U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin, a 21-year-old from Virginia, made history with a remarkable performance on Sunday night at the Winter Olympics. Malinin executed a backflip called “the Bonaly flip” during his gold medal-winning free skate. This move, originally performed by French skater Surya Bonaly at the 1998 Nagano Games, was legalized by Malinin at this year’s Olympics, despite not earning him technical points.
Known for his exceptional skills in landing quadruple jumps, Malinin gained fame for successfully performing a quadruple axel in competition at the age of 17 in 2022. The quadruple axel is a challenging jump involving four and a half rotations with a forward takeoff. Due to his proficiency in landing quad jumps, Malinin has earned the moniker “Quad God,” which he proudly displays on his social media profiles.
Sports writer Pj Kwong praised Malinin’s talent and natural ability as a jumper, attributing his success to both his inherent skill and the influence of past jumpers who inspired him to achieve the seemingly impossible. Additionally, Canadian figure skating legend Kurt Browning acknowledged the difficulty of executing forward takeoffs in jumps, highlighting the unique challenge of the quadruple axel.
Malinin’s background includes having former Olympians Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov as parents and coaches, who represented Uzbekistan in figure skating at the Olympic level. Despite his extraordinary achievements, Malinin emphasized his humanity and relatability, expressing a desire for others to see him as a regular person despite his exceptional feats on the ice.