Ilia Malinin, the 17-year-old world junior champion from Virginia, landed what appeared to be a clean quadruple Axel, a jump that no skater has hit in competition, at a U.S. Figure Skating jump camp on Thursday.
“It was exhilarating witnessing the ease of #iliamalinin 4A today,” Tom Zakrajsek, a coach of other U.S. skaters, tweeted. “He did two of them and they were both clean, flat backwards. Mark my words the @ISU_Figure will have to update their scale of values very soon.”
👀👀 We see you Ilia❗ Ilia Malinin with a quad Axel today at Jump On It! Camp‼ pic.twitter.com/yUSrSHq7Bw
— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) May 12, 2022
Malinin is already a renowned jumper whose Instagram handle is @quadg0d.
He previously posted video of a quad Axel without a clean landing. Other skaters have shared videos of landing a quad Axel with the aid of a harness in training. Others have attempted it in competition but not landed it clean.
The Axel is the lone quad jump yet to be landed clean in men’s competition.
Malinin took silver at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January, hitting five clean quads (three different types) between two programs. He was passed over for the three-man Olympic team because of his lack of senior experience.
Then at junior worlds last month, he attempted four quads in his free skate, landing three clean.
Last December, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu two-footed a quadruple Axel attempt landing at the Japanese Championships. The jump was well shy of the required four and a half rotations, so it was downgraded to a triple Axel, but it marked the best attempt in competition of any skater to that point.
At the Beijing Olympics, Hanyu fell on a quad Axel attempt. It was deemed under-rotated but not downgraded.
Russian-turned American Artur Dmitriev Jr. has worked on a quad Axel for years but not mastered it. He was credited with an under-rotated quad Axel at January’s nationals, where he stepped out of the landing.
Malinin’s next competition will likely be in the summer or early fall.
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