MILAN — Fittingly, Náttúra’s rendition of “Dies Irae,” Ilia Malinin’s chosen music for his Olympic short program, opens with the sound of thunder. An echoing rumble followed by a thumping bassline and haunting vocals. Sounds of a brewing tempest.
Appropriate, since a cloud seemed to hang over Malinin after his two performances in the figure skating team event. In the end, he got the job done, securing gold for the United States. But for two years, opponents scarcely mustered enough to make him sweat. On the biggest stage of his life, a rare fog formed. A mist of doubt. If not from him, certainly from those gathered to see the phenomenon.
“I think I want to call it Olympic pressure,” Malinin said. “Going out there the first time, hitting that Olympic ice and feeling the atmosphere. I didn’t expect it to be so much.”
The understanding brought peace. And with peace came calm. And everyone knows what calm comes before.
Malinin was the storm.
He unleashed a torrent of explosiveness and personality. But this time, he controlled it, harnessing his energy instead of allowing it to get him off kilter. It produced a clean skate.
Malinin’s short program score of 108.16 proved the loudest thunder Tuesday night at Milano Ice Skating Arena. This was the Quad God people heard about. Who they flocked to screens at random hours to see. Who they paid a pretty penny to witness live. Who provokes fervor from every nation of people.
He sits in first place in the individual men’s competition — an ideal position considered the second-and-final skate is his forte. It’s going to take something dramatic to keep the gold from his hands and the figure skating crown off his head. Because the 4-minute free skate is Malinin’s bag. That’s when he can really be the Quad God.
Ilia Malinin makes his competitors struggle by ramping up the scores with numerous difficult elements. (Gabriel Bouys / AFP via Getty Images)
And that’s the significance of what happened Tuesday night. Malinin found his mojo. He settled down and found himself at his center. And the 21-year-old, who’s jolted the sport with his assault on physics, took it to his foes. Instead of feeling the pressure, he applied it.
“That’s the thrill of not just figure skating, but competition in itself,” Malinin said. “Going out here, preparing yourself so well and really just having that attention, all those eyes on you, that pressure. It really shows you who you truly are on the ice.”
Malinin let out a deep breath before taking his position in center ice. No smiling. No playing to the crowd. He locked in for the biggest skate of his life. The drama grows with the eyes on the Quad God. The world’s watching.
His first jump made it clear the zone Malinin found. The judges awarded 14.77 points for his quad flip, which has a base score of 11 points. In other words, he nailed it. That was the warmup. Malinin’s second big jump — a quad lutz into a triple toe loop — garnered 22.03 points, well above the base score of 15.7. That combination confirmed he would not be touched this day. His performance validated his capacity, acquitted his hype.
If Malin’s free skate comes anywhere near the composure and execution he exhibited in his short program, it’s curtains for the field.
“Being the favorite is one thing,” Malinin said. “But actually getting it done and doing it under pressure and really just having the skate of your life to earn that medal is another thing. And I think I don’t want to get too ahead of myself and say that you know it’s guaranteed that I’m getting that gold medal. Because, of course, I still have to put in that work for that long program. So I’m not going to take that for granted.”
But Tuesday felt like a re-settling of the world’s No. 1-ranked skater. Certainly, Malinin, his camp and his fans can sleep much easier about him rising to that moment. Being faced with more doubt than he’s known in years seemed to push Malinin to his best level. As it should for one worthy of being a champion.
The question surrounding Malinin has little to do with his ability. He posts short program scores in the triple digits when he’s on his game. He earned a 110.41 in the 2025 World Championships, skating to rapper NFs “Running.” At the U.S. Championships a month ago, he nailed the routine to the tune of 115.10.
But would his best show up in Milan? Could he muster the focus, the poise, the refinement he needed with the stakes as high as they’ve been? With his room for error swallowed up by the perfection of Japanese skaters Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato?
Back in December, at the International Skating Union Grand Prix Final, he managed just a 94.05 to finish third in the short program. He didn’t do it in the short program of the team event at these very Olympics, finishing second with 98.0.
“Honestly, I didn’t talk to my mom yet, (not) for the week that I’ve been here,” Malinin said. His mother, a former Uzbekistan national champion who finished eighth in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, doesn’t watch him skate. She stays home so as not to telepathically transfer her anxiety to him. His father, Roman Skorniakov, also a former Uzbekistan national champion, is always with him.
“For I’ve heard passed down to my dad that she doesn’t want to give me extra stress. So she wants me to handle it on my own because she trusts me with that. … I’m sure she’s gonna give me some trouble on that team event short program. But you know, that’s a mom. I love her for that.”
Not only did Malinin come through in the clutch, his greatest foes couldn’t match the same eliteness they exhibited in the team event.
Kagiyama, 22, the rival of Malinin in these Olympics, wasn’t as magnificent Tuesday as he was in the team event short program — when he posted a score of 108.67, besting Malinin by better than 10 points. That added incentive for the American to appear in the team free skate. It also put him up against a better Malinin. And while still exceptional Tuesday, Kagiyama wasn’t as dynamite in the individual short program. His score of 103.07 proved good enough to finish second.
France’s Adam Siao Him Fa electrified in his performance, posting a 102.55. Italy’s Daniel Grassl’s 93.46 held up for second most of the night. Andrew Torgashev finished the night in eighth place after scoring 88.94 in his Olympic debut. Maxim Naumov, also in his first Games, is in 14th with his season’s best score of 85.65.
Sato, the other Japanese skater contending for gold, didn’t fare as well. He struggled in his short program and managed just 88.70.
The field needed to get an advantage on Malinin in the short program, like the Japanese did in the team event. Because Malinin’s free skate, packed with quadruple jumps — including his signature quadruple axel, which only he can do — pushes his score potential so high. He holds the world record for a free skate score at 238.24. He managed just a 200.03 while working through his struggles in the team event free skate. That’s low for Malinin. Any of the other skaters in his way would consider a 200-point free skate a great accomplishment.
A 210 from Malinin would force the best free skate from Kagiyama just to have any hope. Kagiyama’s personal best in the free skate is 208.94, set in the 2022 Winter Olympics. His season’s best is 193.64. He must get much closer to the Beijing version of himself to erase Malinin’s 5.09-point lead.
The same personal-best requirement is true for Siao Him Fa, the No. 4-ranked skater in the world, whose personal best in the free skate is 207.17, set in 2023. He hasn’t hit 200 this season.
The rest need a similar messy performance from Malinin in the free skate, the only way to tether him to the pack.
Malinin has been one of the faces of these Olympics for the United States team. (Photo by Elsa / Getty Images)
The problem they have is Malinin took the restraints off. He’d been talking about pace the entire time. He throttled back in the U.S. Championships. He didn’t go all out in the team event. Never even tried his quad axel. They planned a gradual buildup.
The run-up to the Olympics tried his endurance. It’s different when you’re one of the faces of the Games. The obligations. The expectations. His figure skating parents, his coach who also knows how to build an Olympic champ. They prepared him for the grind of this climb. But Malinin still felt the toll, as his first Olympic appearance revealed.
The critique on Malinin aims at his inconsistent precision. He can be denim in a world of slacks. His spectacular jumps mask his sometimes-wanting execution. That’s the tradeoff for his explosiveness. Going big raises the potential for error. It extracts energy that might cost him later in a routine.
But since the team event, Malinin prioritized rest and relaxation. A quest for calm.
He skipped his scheduled practice session with his group before Tuesday’s short program. It certainly added intrigue, Malinin not being on the ice practicing before his first-ever Olympic men’s singles competition. But he said he put in enough work during a private practice.
Malinin also sharpened his blades again. When the U.S. team received its gold medals, Malinin and the others stood on a non-slip podium surface in their skates without skate guards. It created concerns about dulling the blades. Local organizers apologized for the mishap. Malinin said he spent extra time on the ice to break in his freshly sharpened blades.
The extra practice happened before the men’s short program, some three hours before Malinin would compete. Tuesday night had 29 competitors, and Malinin skated 28th.
So he chose sleep over getting to the rink early. He arrived fresh. He took the ice feeling revived. Having skated twice in the team event, being fresh mattered. He conserved his energy. He knew a storm was coming. Because he brought it.
