In Nagoya, All Eyes Are On Malinin

Like almost everyone else in the skating world, Timothy Goebel never thought he would witness a quadruple Axel jump.
 
"I really thought all along that you would see a quintuple toe loop, before a quad Axel," Goebel says. "Just that forward takeoff with the Axel, it's not as reliable. And obviously, the toe quads are easier. That's why more people have done toe pick assisted quads, than edge quads. I just didn't think a quad Axel would be possible."
 
So Goebel, who lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side, attended the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio, especially to watch Ilia Malinin, who by then had made the four-and-a-half revolution jump a frequent part of his arsenal.

 
"I went to a bunch of the practices; I was like, 'I need to see this live, because it feels different in person,'" he says. "And I did, and it was incredible."
 
When Malinin takes the ice later this week in Nagoya, Japan, for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, an event he has won the last two seasons, we don't know if he will include a quad Axel, the four-and-a-half revolution jump only he has landed in international competition. We're not sure whether he will try to land seven quads in his free skate, a goal he has set for himself the last few seasons. And we don't know what other technical feats he might unveil.
 
At Skate Canada early last month, the two-time World champion won by more than 76 points and set a new personal best total score: 333.81 points, less than a point-and-a-half off of 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen's all-time record 335.30, set at the Grand Prix Final in 2019. Will Malinin eclipse this score in Nagoya?
 
"I think that seven quad layout, I call it my perfect layout," Malinin told reporters early this season. "And I think that it is really possible for me to do, especially having the [experience] last year, kind of trying it at all the competitions, and kind of seeing how it works. So think especially with how this year's program is laid out, it's really been a lot easier to kind of skate …. Everything is a lot more complex, but also a lot more efficient for me to get the seven-quad layout done."
 
Goebel, for one, thinks Malinin's goal is within his grasp.
 
"When Ilia is on, the quads look natural and comfortable," he says. "It doesn't look like he is really working."
 
Some 25 years ago, Goebel set an impressive string of competitive "firsts." As a junior, the 2001 U.S. champion landed the first-ever quad Salchow; at 1999 Skate America, he was first to land three quads – two Salchows and a toe loop – in a single free skate, a layout that would still be competitive today. In his heyday, the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist was known as the "Quad King."

 "I should have patented that nickname," Goebel says, laughing. "And then Nathan (Chen) became Quad King after me, but it took 10 or 12 years."
 
Malinin, of course, has taken things a few steps further, branding himself the "Quadg0d," manufacturing a line of sportswear with the moniker, cultivating a high-profile social media presence and, with choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne, creating programs tailored to his own "Gen Z" generation (ages about 13 to 28).
 
"Ilia and his team have done a great job of maximizing the exposure, without it being too much," Goebel, now a technology marketing executive, says. "I think they've taken a really smart approach of  how they're branding him, what and when they're communicating."
 
Adam Rippon, too, never thought he would see a quad Axel; he remembers thinking it couldn't be done, at least not without a major equipment overhaul. Then came the 2022 Skate America, held in Norwood, Massachusetts, where Malinin hit the jump for the first time at a Grand Prix.
 
"I had my breath taken away," Rippon, the 2016 U.S. champion, says. "And since then he's done it multiple times, in really high pressure situations."
 
What impresses Rippon nearly as much as Malinin's technical abilities is his focus on developing his own brand of artistry, selecting music that speaks to young people — like his current short program, set to "Prince of Persia," a video game franchise — and packing his choreography with flashy step sequences and highlight moves including backflips and his signature "Raspberry Twist," a sideways aerial move audiences have grown to anticipate.
 
"You might think somebody who's so technical, who can win events by – what? – 30 or 40 points,  would almost disregard the artistic side of it," Rippon says. "Is it everybody's cup of tea? I don't think so, but it's something that he is obviously into. Sometimes when we think of these big technicians, that's their only focus, and they don't put any energy into the artistry. And I appreciate that he's trying to do his own thing. He's trying to use his voice."
 
Rippon, who works as commentator, had a close-up view at Skate Canada of just how deeply Malinin reaches his target audience.
 
"They pan the camera into the audience, and there's two teenage girls who are sobbing, crying, tears down their face," he says. "They're so overwhelmed with what they just saw. And I think there's something to be said about how what he is doing really appeals to his generation, and it's something that he obviously feels like strongly about."
 
To 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie, it is Malinin's technical ability that enables him to explore his artistic side.
 
"I think that when you walk in with the confidence of, you know, you're going to maybe score 20 or 30 points more than the rest of the people, you can skate with bravado, and show everybody you know the program," Wylie says. "And so I think that's been fun, and I kind of look forward to seeing where he goes artistically, because I think that the sky's the limit. And I think he has gathered this following of people that are just super impressed with the athletic ability, and he's sort of able to kind of bring them along in the artistry as well."
 
As a longtime professional performer, particularly in Stars on Ice, Wylie applauds Malinin's incorporating show moves — including the backflip, made legal by the ISU in 2024 — into his competitive routines.
 
"They are so eye-catching, and they grab the audience, and I think it's wonderful," he says. "Ilia is just non-stop entertainment."
 
So, as he heads into the 2026 Milano Games, where does Malinin go from here? Goebel thinks the sky is the limit.
 
"Oh, I absolutely think Ilia will do a quintuple jump," he says. "Training — limiting repetitions and adding recovery time — has improved so much since my time. I believe that he has done them in practice. He's done the combinations with the quad toe as the second jump. I see the ease with which he does a quad Salchow and toe. I don't see why there's any reason he couldn't do a quint."