Malinin surges into lead with thrilling short program

MILAN — Ilia Malinin seized the spotlight at the Milano Cortina Games on Tuesday night, authoring a men’s short program that crackled with both precision and panache and catapulted the 19-year-old American into first place with 108.16 points.

Skating before a flag-waving contingent of U.S. supporters, Malinin uncorked a quadruple flip and a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, then punctuated the routine with a cheeky backflip that brought the Milano Ice Skating Arena to its feet. The performance opened a commanding 5.09-point gap over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who settled for 103.07 after an unsteady landing on his triple Axel. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa sits third at 102.55 following a clean, confident skate that keeps him firmly in podium contention heading into Friday’s free skate.

The program represented a sharp departure from Malinin’s two outings in last week’s team event, where he helped the United States secure gold without displaying the full breadth of his technical arsenal. On Tuesday he appeared unburdened, raising his arms to absorb the crowd’s roar during his introduction and throwing playful boxing jabs at the camera as he exited the ice.

“I want to call it Olympic pressure,” Malinin said of his earlier subdued performances. “Going out there the first time, hitting that Olympic ice and feeling the atmosphere—I didn’t expect it to be so much. Now that I understand it, I took a different approach today: nice and calm, nice and slow, just relaxed, pushed the autopilot button and let it cruise.”

Many in the building had anticipated a historic quadruple Axel, listed on his planned elements sheet, but Malinin later admitted he never intended to attempt the jump and simply forgot to update the paperwork. He also downplayed the possibility of unleashing the quad Axel in the free skate, citing “health and safety” as his priority.

Kagiyama, the 2022 Beijing silver medallist who bested Malinin in the team event short program, was left to rue his opening jump. “I was a bit frustrated with the triple Axel,” he said through a translator. “My goal now is to perform a free skate that I’m happy with. I’m trying to add more quadruple jumps and increase my offensive power.”

American teammate Maxim Naumov delivered an emotional Olympic debut, skating little more than a year after his parents died in a plane crash near Washington, D.C. Clutching a childhood photo of himself with his mother and father, Naumov said he “felt guided by them today,” adding, “With every glide and step, I couldn’t help but feel their support.”

In a lighter moment, Spain’s Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate performed to music from the Minions franchise while dressed as one of the yellow cartoon characters. Despite stumbling on his triple Axel, he earned raucous applause as fans clapped along to the soundtrack. He finished 25th, one spot shy of the free-skate cut-off.

With the short program complete, all eyes now turn to Friday’s free skate, where Malinin will attempt to convert his commanding lead into a first individual Olympic title and extend a winning streak that stretches back to November 2023.

Keywords: