For Ilia Malinin, the road to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics is winding ever closer to its finish. Next week, the 21-year-old American will look to win his fourth straight national title at the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Less than a month later, he expects to be in Milano. It’s the dream of a lifetime to make it to even one Olympic Games. But Malinin revealed tonight, on a call with reporters, that he hopes this is just the begininng of his Olympic journey.

The two-time World champion was relaxed and cheerful as he discussed the career-defining events that lie so close on the horizon. His training is on track, and he’s excited for what’s to come.

“I am feeling really good going into the U.S. Championships,” Malinin said. “I recently just switched to new skates, so I’m still getting used to getting the hang of them. But overall, I think Nationals this year is going to be a fun experience, especially with the Olympics coming up.”

Outsized expectations have followed Malinin from the start of this Olympic cycle–and even before. At the the last pre-Olympic Nationals in 2022, before the Beijing Olympics, Malinin was an untested 17-year-old. Still, he won silver and almost made that Olympic team. Later that year, in September 2022, Malinin jumped into skating history by landing the first-ever quadruple Axel in competition. And it’s been one milestone after another since then, with his most recent highlight coming at the Grand Prix Final earlier this month, where he completed, for the first time, his “dream layout” of a seven-quad free skate, including all six types of quads.

Malinin acknowledged that he felt the pressure of Olympic expectations at the start of this season. But he says he’s been able to cope with it so far.

“The way I managed it was to trust myself and my team, and take things one step at a time. Just focus on one competition after another, seeing the feedback, [and] what I need to work on to slowly build myself to a comfortable, yet very consistent, stamina or strength or condition for a competition,” Malinin said. “However, around this time, is where there’s going to be even more pressure. I think I’m ready to handle it, and we’ll see how I manage it.”

Malinin experiences the same nerves and adrenaline that most skaters have in competition, but admits: “I kind of thrive on it. So honestly … I really use it to my advantage.”

He employs a variety of techniques to manage pressure day to day, changing things up according to his moods.

“Some days I like to embrace it and use it as that motivation to prove them wrong. Other days, I try to block it out,” he said. “Or change what I’m thinking about, whether that be spending time with my cats, or doing something that I really enjoy.”

Malinin’s success at the Grand Prix Final boosted his confidence heading into Nationals and the Olympics. Achieving the 7-quad “perfect layout”–a goal he set for himself at least a year ago–was a source of deep satisfaction.

“One of the things that I’ve definitely accomplished was being able to get this perfect layout of the seven quads in a program done. That was one of the best things,” Malinin said, reflecting on what he accomplished in the first half of the season. “I was really happy about it. Another thing is to really push the way I skate on the ice. This year, especially, I think I really put myself on the ice as a different skater. I really feel like I’m a lot more confident in myself, a lot more aware of what I’m doing on the ice.”

After the emotional high of the Grand Prix Final, Malinin took a week away from home to train in California with Rafael Arutyunyan–a longtime, albeit long-distance–member of his coaching staff. He also worked with choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne to further develop his programs.

“It was, honestly, I think something necessary, that I needed,” Malinin said of his time in California. “We touched up the programs a little bit, changed a few things, just to make it a little more comfortable and polish up those details. But also, the work with Rafael, he gave me a really good strategy on how I can approach the next couple months, leading up to the Olympics. So it was definitely something that I needed. And it also was a switch, and an environment that really helped my mental [frame of mind] a little bit as well.”

Because Malinin has worked with Arutyunyan for years, he had the opportunity to see 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen prepare for his second Olympics.

“I was there when he was preparing for those Olympics and when he [Chen] was training really hard, and I could see the passion he had for the sport–that he was just grinding every day, jump after jump, after spin, after program, just constantly drilling it,” Malinin recalled. “And I just really fell in love with that aspect of it. He’s given me so much good advice. Him kind of leaving that trail for me, is such an honor. And I’m really happy to try my best to train up to those days of the Olympics, and to win that gold medal.”

With two World titles in hand, and the most technical difficulty in the world, Malinin will be heavily favored in Milano. Yet, he still does not take anything for granted. Asked if he ever envisions not winning the gold, Malinin responded thoughtfully.

“Honestly, sometimes I have those thoughts a little bit. And a lot of the time, that comes from me not having the best practices or the best days. And I think that’s reasonable … Everyone expects you to be so perfect. But sometimes you’re not always perfect. You can have a day where nothing works out, and you just have to go through that. But I always trust in the fact that, no matter what the day is, I can turn around the next day and come up with a fresh, new mindset. For example, let’s say a jump wasn’t going well and it really put me down. The next day, I’ll spend more time on it.”

Malinin also keeps a sense of perspective, knowing that skating isn’t everything. Seeing his friend and teammate, Maxim Naumov, find the strength to continue on after the terrible loss of his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, in the tragic plane crash after last year’s Nationals, is a constant lesson in this regard.

“He’s such a strong person. He’s so brave,” Malinin said of Naumov. “I could never imagine myself in that situation, especially having my parents as my coaches. I don’t understand how he’s able to handle that. And I’m really proud of him, because all of us are here to support him, as a skating community. It’s such an honor to see him being able to come out and compete. And it makes me happy that he keeps continuing to push himself.”

Malinin’s parents, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, have been his principal coaches throughout his career. They simultaneously support, challenge, and try and guide him. But as he’s gotten older, he also feels responsible for managing his training.

“They tell me [not to overdo] a lot of times, but I also trust myself now. I know my body, so I can say whether, for example, for a practice, that this is enough jumps, my body is really getting tired. And I feel like if I do more, than it’s just going to put my body at risk,” Malinin said. “So I’ve learned to manage how I feel–whether I can still progress, but also not overdo myself.”

It’s a difficult balancing act, to be sure, because Malinin’s ambitions and dreams are ever-expanding, it seems.

“I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I always want to be perfect in every aspect, whether it be skating or just as a person. But in reality, that’s not the case,” Malinin said. “When you’re up there, it’s kind of tricky to find something that can push you. In my case, I really love to give myself a challenge. What I always bring up is, kind of that battle between myself, when I go to competitions, instead of really focusing on my competitors. I think, being that kind of person, it’s easier to… really push yourself to different heights, different limits. I think that’s one thing that I especially learned to do well.”

In keeping with that mindset, Malinin plans to continue competing, even if he wins Olympic gold in February. He revealed that he hopes to participate in two more Olympics after this–the 2030 Games, in France, and the home Olympics in Salt Lake City, in 2034.

“Honestly, I don’t know how much my body will handle it, after all the jumps I’ve been doing so far, but that’s a goal for me, to skate for at least three Olympic cycles … I mean, I’m playing everything by ear and how I feel, and the passion I have for skating. So who knows? Might be a fourth or fifth,” Malinin teased, with a grin. “We’ll see how long I can keep going.”

Right now, though, his focus is on the upcoming U.S. Championships.

 “My holidays are going really great, and I’m training every day as usual. I think it’s going to be a fun Nationals,” he said.

Malinin also finds some time for fun off the ice. Among other pastimes, he occasionally enjoys painting and building Legos. However, he didn’t get any new Lego sets for his December birthday or for Christmas this year.

“I bought myself a gaming computer, and that was kind of the whole, you know, birthday and Christmas gift. So that’s all I got,” he said.

After the U.S. championships, Milano beckons, with all the opportunities it presents.

“Some of the things that I haven’t achieved yet, still, is being at my very top level. I think there’s still a lot more progress that I can do, especially in the next, let’s say, three Olympic cycles, that I still want to skate,” Malinin said. “And you know, hopefully in those years, I’ll be able to become the fullest skater that I can be.”