Ilia Malinin landed the first clean, fully rotated quadruple Axel in figure skating competition history to win the U.S. International Classic in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Wednesday night.
Malinin, the 17-year-old world junior champion from Virginia, opened his free skate to “Euphoria” by Labrinth with a quad Axel, the last remaining quadruple jump that had yet to be landed clean by any skater in competition.
“It felt really good,” Malinin said, according to U.S. Figure Skating. “When I’m practicing it, it’s pretty easy for me to figure out how to get the right timing and everything to have it be a good attempt. To do it in competition is a different story because you have nerves and pressure that can get in the way of that. So I have to treat it like I’m at home, and it feels pretty good.”
The jump received a full base value of 12.50 points (the most awarded for any of the six quad jumps, as it is the hardest, requiring an extra half-revolution) plus a 1.00 grade of execution from a judges panel. A jump with a positive grade of execution is considered clean.
“This is the CRAZIEST thing I’ve ever seen anyone do on the ice,” 2018 Olympian Adam Rippon tweeted. “ILIA BOY WONDER!!!”
Malinin, whose parents competed at the Olympics for Uzbekistan, landed four quads overall in his free skate, plus a triple Lutz-triple Axel combination, which has rarely, if ever, been done to rise from sixth place after Tuesday’s short program to win his season debut, despite three falls between two programs.
The top-level Grand Prix Series opens next month with Skate America, where Malinin faces Olympic and world silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan in the absence of Olympic champion Nathan Chen. Chen is on an indefinite and perhaps permanent break from competition.
Chen never attempted a quad Axel in competition. Few men have.
Malinin previously landed what appeared to be a clean quad Axel at a U.S. Figure Skating camp in May. Before that, the jumping master with the Instagram handle @quadg0d posted training video of a quad Axel without a clean landing.
“I had an idea for trying it for a little while now,” Malinin said Wednesday, according to U.S. Figure Skating. “March or April was when I really started to work on the technique and try to improve it.”
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 in April, he attempted four quads in his free skate, landing three clean.
Other skaters previously shared videos of landing a quad Axel with the aid of a harness in training. Others attempted it in competition but did not land it clean, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, who made it his mission to land the jump, even in retirement from competition.
Last December, Hanyu two-footed a quadruple Axel attempt landing at the Japanese Championships. The jump was well shy of 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.
“Hanyu definitely inspired me to try it here,” Malinin said.
Russian-turned American Artur Dmitriev Jr. worked on a quad Axel for years but did not master it. He was credited with an under-rotated quad Axel at January’s nationals, where he stepped out of the landing.
The Axel was created by Norwegian Axel Paulsen, who landed it at the first international skating “meeting” in Vienna in 1882. American Dick Button landed the first double Axel en route to the first of his back-to-back Olympic titles in 1948.
The first triple Axel in competition was landed by Canadian Vern Taylor at the 1978 World Championships.
“It’s been 43 years since Vern Taylor of Canada successfully landed the 3A in 1978,” Hanyu said in December. “No skater has been able to add another rotation to this so far. Trying to do something nobody else has done is like walking in the dark.”
NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.
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