A year ago this month, Ilia Malinin jumped into figure skating history when he landed the first-ever quadruple Axel in Lake Placid, NY. The skating world was stunned by his feat, which made international news. Malinin wowed skating fans by continuing to land the unprecedented jump in multiple competitions last season, including the 2023 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, in Saitama, Japan, where he won the bronze medal.
However, the quad Axel was not in evidence this past weekend at Malinin’s season debut at 2023 Autumn Classic International in Montreal. This was by choice. Now 18, Ilia Malinin is determined to win notice–and points–for other aspects of his skating, as well as the quad Axel. To that end, Malinin chose to focus on his new programs and artistry in Montreal, and did not unleash his famous jump.
It’s a strategy that’s key for his future competitive success. At Worlds last March, Japan, Malinin earned the highest technical marks in the competition, but fell short of the title due to lower presentation scores. To win a World or Olympic title, he’ll need to improve those marks. And Malinin got this message at Worlds.
“It really influenced me,” Malinin said of the judges’ marks at Worlds. “When I did shows during the summer, it helped me up my performance. Instead of the focus being mainly on what you’re doing [technically] in the program, it’s more to try and entertain the audience and to impress them with your skating. That helped me build creativity.”
During the off-season, Malinin worked with renowned choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne to create both of his programs this season. The overall goal is to show artistic growth and increased maturity in his skating.
Malinin’s short program is set to the classic Spanish song “Malaguena” and features lots of detail and a crisp step sequence. Malinin skated the program cleanly at Autumn Classic and notched a total of 100.87 points, an excellent score for his first time out.
“This year’s [short] program is really different for me. We put a lot of time and effort into trying to add more artistry and creativity to it,” Malinin commented afterward. “I think there’s a really good base to it.”
Malinin said the program was challenging to learn, particularly the demanding step sequence. He and Bourne tried to add as much difficulty to the steps as he could handle.
“When I was first doing that footwork, I thought it would be really hard to do all of that at a quick pace. But as time went on, as I kept practicing, it started to fall in with the muscle memory,” Malinin said. “Now, it’s almost like I don’t have to really think about it. It just happens. It feels fun to go out there and do all these quick, cool turns. I don’t think people will expect that.”
To get a feel for the mood of the program, Malinin watched a lot of ballroom dance and choreography set to Spanish music. He also experimented on his own.
“Sometimes I just play music in my room and try to improv or interpret it, just to see what I can bring in terms of my creativity,” Malinin shared. “I’ll think of different moves or choreography, and see if it works well with the music I’ve been given. If I like something, I’ll try to add it to my skating.”
For Malinin’s long program, Bourne suggested using the soundtrack to the hit show Succession, which centers on the family of a media mogul, and the question of who will succeed the mogul in leading the family business.
“At first, I didn’t really know what the music was all about,” said Malinin, who has not yet watched the TV series. “It was an idea from Shae-Lynn. She thought it would fit. So we trusted her, to see what sort of story she had with the music.”
Bourne explained the theme and plotline of the show. The program is meant to evoke some of that story. But the concept of “succession” also resonated with Malinin on a personal level.
“Last season, I started having a lot of successful things [happen], at the top,” Malinin said. “But there’s other things that are under–that I have to give more effort to–in order to get up even higher.”
The end of Malinin’s free skate features an exciting new leap move that he’s invented.
“It’s a butterfly [jump] with a twist in between,” Malinin explained. “I named it the ‘raspberry twist,’ because my last name in Russian means raspberry. So that’s why I named it raspberry twist. Or Malinin twist. It’s a thing I was just trying out in my free time, to see how I can pull it off, because I saw people doing it on the floor. I was like, ‘This would be really cool to add to my program.’ It took a while, but I just kept practicing and practicing. Now it’s pretty easy for me to do, and I feel like I have another signature move.”
Malinin wants to be different, to stand out. He likes having moves that he’s pioneered or created on his own, such as the quad Axel and raspberry twist.
“It’s the start to me being seen as an innovator and a game-changer in the skating community,” Malinin said. “Again, it’s ‘succession.’ It’s sort of a personality for me, that I was able to achieve last year, making these successes, and the quad Axel.This new move is another successful thing.”
In his quest to improve and stand out, Malinin not only focused on his artistry during the off-season but also worked a lot on spins with his coaches (and parents), Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov.
“Spins were not that great last season,” he admitted. “Over the summer, we put a lot more time and effort into spins, and a lot more choreography. And even jumps, so that they have a better landing and better flow out of them. My main focus was to take what I have, through the basics, and really up it, and give it that extra final finish.”
Malinin said that he’s open to constructive criticism and gives due consideration to feedback (especially from judges, of course).
“If I hear something that I feel like is true, and that I need to work on, then yes, of course, I’ll take that and try to put more effort into working on that, as opposed to something that wasn’t true,” Malinin said. “I wouldn’t necessarily be like, ‘I’m not sure if this is really correct.’ I always tend to see what judges say, what people say, what coaches say, to see how it fits me and if it makes a difference in how I get scored, or how the program looks in general.”
Malinin said the choice to focus on presentation at Autumn Classic did not, however, come from coaches or officials.
“It was my personal decision. It’s the easiest way for me to build up that progress, to [a point] where I’m like, ‘Oh, when I feel this comfortable, that’s when I know I can put in the quad Axel and the harder elements,’” he explained.
Another goal for Malinin is adding the quad loop to his free skate. He landed several quad loops in practice in Montreal, but performed only a double loop in the competition.
Malinin said the quad loop is “kind of challenging for me, but also, it’s the last one [i.e., the last type of quad] that I have left to do. I really want to do it, so that way, I can put my name out there as landing every single quad in competition.”
During the off-season, Malinin was excited to perform in shows in Japan, one of his favorite places to visit. He enjoyed sampling the food and culture there. Malinin also said that he particularly appreciated seeing the architecture in Japan, because he’s interested in possibly pursuing interior design in the future.
Malinin graduated from George C. Marshall High School this spring with mixed emotions.
“It was really sad for me that I didn’t get the chance to have a normal high school life, I guess, that all these other kids did, where they were there [in school] all day, and they had a lot of social life,” Malinin admitted. On the other hand, he appreciated the special attention he got at school due to his skating achievements, and the support he received from school administration and other students.
Malinin is now taking college classes at George Mason University in Virginia. This semester, he has an online math class and an on-campus dance class.
“It’s thirty minutes away from my house, so it’s pretty convenient for me,” Malinin said. “I go to school in the morning. The class I’m taking is a modern and contemporary dance class. So it’s also helping me with skating, learning how to improvise a lot better, and with flexibility, balance, and coordination.”
Malinin doesn’t know yet if he’ll stay at George Mason University, or perhaps transfer to another college later. For now, it works. He continues to train mostly in Virginia with his parents, although he takes from his other coach, Rafael Arutyunyan, when he has time or is in California to visit Bourne.
With a strong start to his season at Autumn Classic, Malinin will look to build from here. He says fans may see the quad Axel later this season.
“Last year, it was a really good thing that I went for it. And it was my trademark last year,” Malinin said of the quad Axel. “This year, my main focus, again, is to really improve on that artistic side. But, if things are looking good, then I might add one or two in the next couple of competitions. We’ll see how I feel.”