Already ready a gold medalist at these Games, U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin retakes the ice Tuesday in hopes of bringing home more Olympic gold. The 21-year-old is heavily-favored in the men’s individual events due to the fact he is the only person to ever land a quadruple axel in competitio n. He first landed the 4 1/2-rotation jump back in 2022. Malinin has also gained attention at the Milan Cortina Olympics for his backflip, which he has completed successfully twice since arriving in Italy. The second one, during the team event men’s free skate, he landed on one blade. Watch live: Individual men’s short program The so-called “Quad God” entered the Winter Olympics a two-time world champion, undefeated in competition since 2023. He was controversially left off Team USA for the Beijing Games. “I wouldn’t tell people I’m untouchable. I want the opposite. I want people to relate to me,” Malinin told The Associated Press. “Yes, I’m doing all these crazy things on the ice that defy physics in some ways. I still want them to see all of us skaters are human beings.” Part of Malinin’s success can be traced to his coaches, who happen to be his parents and former Olympians themselves. His Olympic family and coach Malinin’s Russian-born mother, Tatiana Malinina, competed at the 1998 Olympics for Uzbekistan, and won the prestigious Grand Prix Final the next year. His Russian-born father, Roman Skorniakov, competed for Uzbekistan at both the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. Malinin’s genes go deeper, though. His grandfather, Valery Malinin, competed for the Soviet Union and still coaches in Russia. So it was never really a question whether he would go into the family business. Ilia Malinin’s parents Roman Skorniakov, skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and Tatiana Malinina, skating at the 1999 World Figure Skating Championships. (Photo by Getty Images) Malinin would tag along to the rink with his parents as a kid, though back then he preferred soccer to skating. But once he began to hit those big jumps that have become his hallmark, Malinin was committed. His parents coached him to the junior world title in 2022 after he had missed out on the Winter Games. With Hall of Fame coach Rafael Arutyunyan soon joining his team, Malinin won his first senior U.S. title, then began winning on the Grand Prix stage. The gold medals soon began to pile up in the most elite competitions in figure skating. “Ilia challenges himself constantly,” explains Arutyunyan, who coached Nathan Chen to gold at the Beijing Games. “Our biggest challenge is keeping the team of people who work with him on the same page. We’re all there for him when he needs his team most.” Malinin has never needed it as much as now. In a class of his own Malinin began his season by capturing the Lombardia Trophy, then he dominated the Grand Prix de France and Skate Canada, where his score of 333.81 was nearly 80 points better than second-place Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia. In fact, his personal-best score nearly broke the world record of 335.30 points, set by Chen in 2019 at the Grand Prix Final. Then, Malinin added another Grand Prix Final title of his own in December, and another national championship in January. Malinin won that won easily, despite a dialed-back free skate as he sorted out some issues with a new set of skates. “He has such a passionate fire for skating,” says his choreographer, Shae-Lynn Bourne. “He’s one of those that have skates on an hour before we work and an hour after we work. He just puts the time in, and he’s constantly — not just loves to skate, but he’s not someone who will ever coast, or just go on what he knows he can do. He constantly wants to be challenged.” That’s why Malinin pushed himself to land the quad axel, a 4 1/2-rotation jump nobody else has landed in competition. And it was the impetus behind his signature “raspberry twist,” and a myriad other spins, leaps and moves that seem to defy gravity and logic. “It’s been amazing to see him, not only how he deals with the pressure but how he’s really matured as a person,” says Jason Brown, a two-time Olympian. “We’re behind him every step of the way. Everyone feels that way.” ...read more read less