MILAN — Sunday night had turned to Monday morning and Ilia Malinin, the world’s best figure skater, stood in a crowded hallway beneath the Milano Ice Skating Arena trying to leave the building.
He had saved the United States in the figure skating team event, with a free skate filled with just enough quadruple jumps to live up to his nickname “Quadg0d” and beat Japan’s Shun Sato by five points in the next-to-last performance in the last event. As a result, his first Olympic gold medal dangled around his neck.
