If you watch the Winter Olympic Games coverage in the United States, it’s impossible to go five minutes without seeing figure skater Ilia Malinin.
The 21-year-old phenom is the back-to-back world champion and a historically significant favorite to win men’s gold at his first Olympic Games in Milan.
Nicknamed the “Quad God” for his technical brilliance and breaking of physics, he made his Olympic debut on Saturday night in the short program during the figure skating team’s competition.
The United States team is in a battle with Japan for the gold medal, and it was down to the two best men’s skaters in the world to see who would enter the second half of the competition with momentum. For America, it was Malinin, and for Japan, it was the silver medalist from Beijing four years ago, Yuma Kagiyama.
Kagiyama went first and tore the house down, performing a flawless program that made it look as if he was dancing on water. The Japanese star combined technical strength with fluid artistry to smash the then-high score, finishing with 108.67.
As he left the ice, all pressure was on Malinin to show why he hasn’t lost a competition in over two years.
While the American did land the first-ever backflip in official Olympics competition, it wasn’t nearly enough to match Kagiyama’s slick performance. Even worse, his technical score, which is usually unmatched, was outdone by Kagiyama as well.
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When his overall score of 98.00 was announced, the crowd went into an awkward silence, with the usually smiling Malinin looking visibly frustrated at the result.
On the night he was supposed to kick off his golden road, Kagiyama upstaged Malinin, beginning a rivalry that will continue throughout the teams and men’s competitions.
For Malinin, it’s not the first time he lost to Kagiyama, having fallen to him recently in the short program at Worlds. His strength, however, comes in the longer free program, where his multitude of quadruple jumps and iconic quad axel are something no one, even Kagiyama, can keep up with. That’s how he prevailed over the Japanese skater to win his second-straight world title.
The next decision for the United States is whether to use Malinin in the free program or allow him to rest ahead of his upcoming solo competition. If he doesn’t, Japan has a golden opportunity to take first place from the Americans.
AloJapan.com