Ilia “Quad God” Malinin stunned by Yuma Kagiyama, but U.S. holds lead over Japan in Olympic team figure skating
Ilia Malinin’s quest for Olympic figure skating gold might not be so easy after all.
Same goes for his American team.
Yuma Kagiyama landed a pair of near-perfect quads, one in combination with a triple toe loop, and scored 108.67 points in his short program on Saturday night. That topped Malinin in the segment — he was second with 98.00 — and helped to keep the Japanese team within distance of the defending champion U.S. heading into the final day of competition.
Thanks to a brilliant free skate by Madison Chock and Evan Bates later in the night, the U.S. ended the day with 44 points. Japan was five points back going into the men’s, women’s and pairs free skates to decide the medals Sunday.
“You know, I think I got to buckle down and see what happens and get better next time. We will work it out,” said Malinin, the two-time reigning world champion, who is unbeaten in his last 14 full competitions stretching back more than two years.
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“Being here, I’m trying to enjoy every single moment and just be grateful for everything,” Malinin continued, “because there’s a lot of unexpected things that can happen in life and I’m taking everything to heart.”
As the U.S. and Japan duel for gold, the race for bronze also is tight: Italy has 37 points, Canada has 35 and Georgia has 32.
The top five teams advanced after short programs, and the Canadians squeaked through thanks to Stephen Gogolev’s personal-best 92.99 score. Kevin Aymoz was unable to match him for France, leaving his team one point below the cut line.
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“I’m focusing more on myself,” Gogolev said, “and obviously that is going to translate to the highest ranking possible for the team.”
As for Malinin, he had stalked through the tunnels inside Milano Ice Skating Arena before his Olympic debut, wearing a black tank top that read “Quad God,” the nickname borne of the way that he performs his otherworldly four-revolution jumps. The name came about when he tried changing his Instagram handle.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I landed a quad? Quad God, there it is, okay, let’s put it in,'” he told CBS News in an interview last week. “And from there everyone’s like, ‘Why’d you name yourself Quad God? You only have one quad.” And I’m like, ‘Well, now that I think about it, maybe I should try to land all of them to get the Quad God status.'”
The 21-year-old wunderkind did not attempt the quad axel, the 4 1/2-revolution jump only he has ever landed in competition, on Saturday night and did a shaky version of a triple instead. Malinin hit a big opening quad flip and finished his program with a quad lutz-triple toe loop, getting bonus points for the combination in the second half of the program.
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But when his score was read, Malinin seemed almost stunned that Kagiyama had beaten him — and by a 10-point margin.
“That’s only 50% of my full potential here,” Malinin said.
Malinan, whose parents were Olympic figure skaters for Uzbekistan and whose grandfather was a figure skater for the USSR, started skating at 6.
He won gold at both the 2024 and 2025 ISU Figure Skating World Championships.
Kagiyama opened with a quad toe-triple toe combination, landed a quad salchow and finished his short program with a peerless triple axel. And unlike Malinin, when Kagiyama’s score was read, he jumped out of his seat with clenched fists raised high.
“I always receive good motivation from Ilia because he is one of the skaters who created this figure skating moment,” Kagiyama said. “He’s a good jumper, and he can do quads, so I always think that I want to catch him.”
The Americans have been on a mission ever since the 2022 Beijing Games, where their Olympic triumph was overshadowed by a Russian doping controversy. The ensuing investigation held their gold medals in limbo for more than two years, until Chock and Bates were part of the squad that finally received them in a ceremony during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Japan has long been considered their biggest rivals. And they have lived up to those expectations, getting short programs by Kaori Sakamoto and pairs world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara to go with Kagiyama’s triumph Saturday night.
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It was only fitting that Chock and Bates would perform — and win — both of their programs during the team competition.
Their free dance, a flamenco-styled program set to “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi western “Westworld,” had the crowd on its feet by the end. Their season-best score of 133.23 points gave a big boost to a U.S. squad in need of some momentum.
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