Quad Axel master Ilia Malinin shines among figure skating's brightest stars at Japan Open
Hosts Japan win the team event over North America and Europe but the 17-year-old high-flying American is the talk of town, with eyes on quintuple jumps and a seven-quad program.
Figure Skating
The figure skating's Japan Open title went to the host country.
The day, however, belonged to none other Ilia Malinin.
Led by world champions Uno Shoma and Sakamoto Kaori, Japan won the three-way free-program team event on Saturday (8 October) over North America and Europe, but all eyes at the Saitama Super Arena were glued to the 17-year-old phenom from the United States.
Malinin - the first successful quadruple Axel jumper in history - produced a score of 193.42 points, second to only Uno’s mistake-free 193.80 in the men's competition.
Malinin failed to land his now trademark quadruple Axel, touching the ice on his final rotation, but effortlessly went through his four other quad jumps.
At practice on Friday - when he didn’t miss a beat with his quad Axel - he had a mind-boggling seven quad jumps but played it safe and scaled back for the actual competition.
The American teenager said he has figured out the quad Axel, the jump made world famous by two-time Olympic champion Hanyu Yuzuru during his unsuccessful chase through Beijing 2022 to become the first-ever to do it.
When Hanyu was attempting it, the quad Axel was regarded as virtually impossible. Malinin somehow is nailing it pretty much every time with alarming accuracy.
“With all the training we’ve done, we studied what problems I had with the quad Axel since I hadn’t been able to land it”, he said.
“We took the time to see what the problems were and what we could do to solve it. That was really important. I’ve basically understood the basis for how to go for it on every try.
“It wasn’t the best attempt (today) but I felt pretty confident going into it”.
Uno: Malinin is going to be a "dominating presence"
Uno - who was fetched more questions about Malinin than himself at the post-match press conference - continued to gush about the junior world champion, saying he will own the sport in less than two years.
“He’s only in his second season moving up to the seniors and he’s only going to get better from here on - in every way”, said Uno, who launched his campaign on this afternoon in style.
“In a year or two, he’s going to be a dominating presence and I need to look at myself in the mirror if I want to keep up with him." Uno Shoma on Ilia Malinin
“I’ve tried the quad Axel in practice and I’m not even close. Everyone points to the new jump, the 4A, about him but what amazes me about Ilia are his other jumps," the reigning world champion added.
“He make it look easier than everyone else and lands them with such consistency”, said Miura Kao, who like Malinin is 17 and filled in for the injured Kagiyama Yuma.
“He lands the quad Axel like he’s doing a triple. I don’t understand how he does it. He must know something”.
Malinin: Inspired by Hanyu
Here’s the really frightening part: by the end of the season, if all goes well, Malinin hopes to unleash his seven-quad program in competition.
And not only that, he is seriously contemplating adding quintuple jumps to his arsenal. Malinin just may have to change his nickname of "Quad God" in the near future.
“We’re sort of trying to understand to see if it’s easier to focus on the season or doing quintuples but I think that as of right now, we’re uncertain of how things are looking with my jumps.
“My goal is to focus on the season and have a really good skate to make sure that I’m consistent. After the season maybe I’ll feel a lot better and start attempting quins." - Ilia Malinin
“Towards the end of the season we might start adding a bit more but hopefully by the end, I’ll be prepared enough to try the seven-quad layout I’m going for”.
And the man who helped shape Malinin? You guessed it.
"Hanyu has been the greatest inspiration for me ever since I started skating. He’s definitely the reason why I started trying quad Axels because I saw everyone’s attempts and out of everyone’s, I think Hanyu’s was the closest and determined to do it.
"I kind of studied how he did the quad Axel and from there took up my own style. And it’s great to hear that he’s very happy that he was my inspiration".