Lead: Ilia Malinin, the 21-year-old American jumper who has redefined the technical ceiling of men’s figure skating, arrived at the 2026 Olympic short program as the sport’s overwhelming favorite. After a steady run of victories since 2023 and a string of landmark elements—including the only quad Axel ever landed and seven quads within a legal program—Malinin posted a short program of 108.16 that left rivals scrambling. The team event offered a brief reminder that artistry and timing can alter outcomes, but Malinin’s clean short program reaffirmed his competitive dominance. The result pushed him from heavy favorite toward what commentators now call a prohibitive favorite for individual gold.
Key Takeaways
- Ilia Malinin is 21 years old and remains the only skater to land a quad Axel in competition.
- Malinin has landed seven quads in a program—the maximum without using a quad-quad combination—helping him remain unbeaten at events since 2023.
- In the Olympic short program he scored 108.16, with a second-half boosted jumping pass worth 21.87 points.
- The quad Axel is relatively undervalued by current scoring: a triple Axel is +2.10 points over a triple Lutz, while a quad Axel is only +1.00 over a quad Lutz.
- Yuma Kagiyama remains the sport’s strongest artistic performer and landed four quads en route to Olympic silver in 2022, but a late error in the short left him second to Malinin.
- The quad revolution—pioneered by skaters such as Yuzuru Hanyu, Nathan Chen, and Jin Boyang (competing in 2026)—has shifted the balance toward jump content, complicating how artistry is rewarded.
- Even with scoring mechanisms for Program Component Scores (PCS), consistent clean jumping at Malinin’s level makes it mathematically difficult for others to overcome him when he lands everything.
Background
Figure skating has long been a hybrid: part judged artistic performance, part athletic contest. The sport embeds subjectivity through Program Component Scores that attempt to quantify composition, presentation and skating skills, while the technical panel assigns objective base values and Grades of Execution for elements. Over the last decade a “quad revolution” shifted the calculus: skaters began to routinely pack free skates with multiple quadruple jumps, pushing raw technical value higher and changing program construction.
Early exponents of that shift—Yuzuru Hanyu, Nathan Chen and Jin Boyang—expanded what was possible. Hanyu married athletic innovation with strong presentation; Chen combined prodigious jumping with a sometimes-criticized stylistic singularity; Jin brought raw technical upside and remains in the Olympic field in 2026. The result is a sport where technical ceiling and artistic floor now collide: a skater who can consistently execute the highest-valued jumps can create a de facto scoring advantage that PCS alone rarely erases.
Main Event
At the team event, Malinin had a performance that, by his own standards, was shaky—offering a glimmer of hope to fans who prize artistry over brute technical dominance. Yuma Kagiyama beat him in that team short program by skating cleanly, underscoring that when the technical ceiling is lowered (as in short programs), artistry and fine skating skills can tilt results. The Olympic men’s short allowed only three jumping passes and one combination, reducing the maximum technical payload and theoretically giving artistry more room to matter.
When Malinin returned for the individual short program he chose not to attempt the quad Axel but executed all required elements cleanly, finishing on 108.16 points. His second-half boosted jump alone was credited 21.87 points—an eye-catching number that reflects both base value and positive GOE. After that performance Malinin moved from a heavy favorite to what many described as a prohibitive favorite: a skater whose combination of base values and consistency makes an upset mathematically unlikely if he lands his elements.
Kagiyama, who brings unmatched skating skills and visible charisma, had a chance to reclaim the upper hand but erred on his final triple Axel in the individual short. That stumble dropped him behind Malinin despite his reputation for cleaner, more traditionally artistic programs. The sequence of events—team event advantage for Kagiyama, then Malinin’s dominant short—illustrates how fragile the interplay between artistry and technical advantage has become under current rules.
Analysis & Implications
The Malinin era forces a reconsideration of what figure skating prizes. If a sport’s rules assign greater raw points to technically difficult elements, then athletes who push those boundaries will monopolize victories so long as they remain consistent. Malinin’s ability to land seven high-value quads and the quad Axel undercuts the corrective power of PCS: even generous program component marks can be overwhelmed by superior jump content when base values and GOE add up.
That dynamic creates two possible responses inside the sport. One is rule recalibration—raising the PCS weight or revaluing specific elements like the quad Axel to better reflect execution difficulty and artistic integration. The other is aesthetic adaptation—coaches and choreographers constructing programs that blend Malinin-level technical content with more overt artistry, attempting to win both axes simultaneously. Each path has trade-offs: rule changes invite controversy and possible gaming, while stylistic fusion is difficult and time-consuming to cultivate.
There are broader consequences beyond podium placement. Public perception of the sport matters: audiences who prize visible beauty may feel alienated if competitions routinely resemble jump contests. Conversely, many viewers resonate with the visceral thrill of superhuman athletic feats; for them, Malinin’s jumps are a new form of beauty. National federations and event organizers must weigh these preferences when considering training priorities and judging guidance ahead of rule updates.
Comparison & Data
| Element | Relative Value vs Lutz |
|---|---|
| Triple Axel | +2.10 points vs triple Lutz |
| Quad Axel | +1.00 point vs quad Lutz |
The table above highlights an oft-cited imbalance: the quad Axel carries a surprisingly modest extra value relative to the quad Lutz, far less than its triple counterpart’s premium. Contextually, Malinin’s seven quads and the quad Axel stack base values and GOE in a way that leaves little room for rivals who cannot match jump volume. That arithmetic explains why technical dominance can be a decisive factor even where PCS is present to measure artistry.
Reactions & Quotes
Officials, commentators and fans have voiced a mix of admiration and concern about how Malinin’s technical gifts reshape competitive priorities. A recurring theme: the sport is at a crossroads between preserving judged artistry and acknowledging athletic evolution.
“like a jump competition.”
Ilia Malinin
Malinin used this phrase after a major win, signaling his own awareness that his performances tilt toward technical dominance. The comment was widely reported and has been used by critics and supporters alike to frame ongoing debates about what skating should reward.
“PCS often tracks reputation and performance order as much as it does clean execution.”
former ISU judge (anonymized)
A former judge summarized common concerns about subjectivity in Program Component Scores, noting that name recognition and where a skater performs in the running order can influence marks. That assessment helps explain why fans read too much into small score changes and why clean performances do not always equal perceived fairness.
Unconfirmed
- Whether Malinin will attempt a quintuple jump in competition remains unconfirmed and speculative; no official attempt has been announced.
- Proposals to revalue the quad Axel or change PCS weighting are circulating in commentary but no regulatory change has been confirmed by the ISU.
- Claims that judges will systematically favor Malinin because of nationality or federation size are unproven and remain anecdotal until documented through adjudication reviews.
Bottom Line
Ilia Malinin’s technical achievements—most visibly the quad Axel and a program construction that packs seven quads—have moved figure skating into a new phase where raw athleticism can overwhelm the sport’s traditional artistic apparatus. That shift presents an existential question for the sport’s stewards: preserve subjectively scored artistry as a corrective, or adapt rules to integrate extreme athletic feats into the definition of beauty. Both routes carry costs; regulators and stakeholders will have to balance fairness, spectacle and the sport’s historical identity.
For spectators and competitors the immediate consequence is clear: while artistry still matters and can swing tightly matched short programs, consistent top-end technical execution by Malinin creates a margin that is often insurmountable under current scoring. The coming months—rule deliberations, strategic program designs, and on-ice responses from rivals—will determine whether figure skating re-embraces an older aesthetic or cements a new one where superlative jumps are the principal currency of victory.