Many different stars from around the world are selected every couple of years to compete in the Olympics. Each performance is unique, but none can compare to Ilia Malinin.

Background

Ilia Malinin, a 21-year-old competitive figure skater, is from Fairfax, Virginia.

Manlinin’s parents, Tatiana Manlinin and Roman Skorniakov, coached and trained him as he grew up.. His parents were both Olympic athletes, which has undoubtedly contributed to Manlinin’s success.

People also know Malinin as the “Quad God” and gave him this nickname due to his exceptional abilities. He lands insanely high jumps and varied quadruple jumps, including the quad Axel. ​

Judging of the compitions

Ice skating competitions have many rules and a complex scoring system. Judges look at how long your performance is, the elements requirements, costume regulations, as well as on ice elements.

While many things judges look for to add points, they look at even more things to deduct points. Such as fall deductions, music violations, time violations, and illegal elements.

Performance

Ilia Malinin scored a 200.03 in his free skate performance. This was 5.17 points higher than Japan, which ultimately helped the Team USA 2026 Olympic figure skating team take home gold.

​Malinin skated to a medley of “Voice” by Asaf Avidan, an Israeli singer/ songwriter known for his high-pitched vocal range. This song selection was poetic and helped Ilia tell the story of his journey through life.

“ I thought Ilia Malinin skated beautifully and is no doubt the world’s top skater. Regarding the judges’ scoring of each skater, I think it was as fair as it gets.” Said Abigail Palacios, a student at Colonia High School

During his performance, he opened with a quad flip; later in the free skate, he hit a triple axel, landed five quads including a quad flip, quad lutz, and a quad toeloop and a one-footed backflip.

Other competitors

Japan had a strong performance but could not seem to beat the USA.  “ I truly think that Japan’s Sun Sato should have taken first place; he made a few mistakes and performed beautifully, while Ilia Manlinin touched the ice with both hands during his performance.” Said Hellen Kovaleski, another student from Colonia High.

Sun Sato performed and scored a near-perfect score of 194.86. He landed three quadruple jumps, but just couldn’t seem to win the judges’ hearts.

Critique

Although he hit many moves, there were some flaws in his performance that caused deductions. One of the mistakes made was a stumble where both of his hands touched the ice.

Conclusion

Overall, Ilia Malinin’s remarkable performance at the 2026 Olympic Games showcased not only his gracefulness and athletic lineage but also his ability to captivate the audience and judges alike. Despite differing opinions on the scoring, his victory stands as a testament to his hard work and the high level of competition in figure skating today.

As the sport evolves, athletes like Malinin continue to inspire future generations to reach new heights on the ice. Although everyone has their own opinion on who should’ve taken first place, one thing is set in stone, and that is that Ilia Malinin won.