American Malinin leaps way into skating stardom

American Ilia Malinin took another step in his fast rise toward the top of figure skating by winning a bronze medal Saturday at the world championships in Saitama, Japan.

Malinin, still just 18 and the only skater to land a quadruple axel, again hit the jump at the start of his free skate and attempted five other quads in an astoundingly ambitious program that carried a great deal of risk. Stumbles on two of his attempts kept him from finishing higher, writes

Les Carpenter of The Washington Post.

Shoma Uno became the first Japanese skater to win a world championship in his home country since Yuzuru Hanyu in 2014. South Korea’s Cha Junhwan finished second.

At the end of his skate, Malinin looked disappointed, shaking his head slightly, frustrated that he had not hit all his quads. But his ascent over the past 14 months has been extraordinary, and he is widely seen as America’s next male figure skating star, joining

Nathan Chen, who won three straight world championships from 2018 to 2021.

Known for his quad jumps, Malinin, who nicknamed himself “quadg0d” on his Instagram account, was the surprise silver medalist at the 2022 U.S. championships and won this year’s U.S. title in January.

“I’m just very shocked about how I progressed through this whole season,” Malinin said via a transcript provided by the International Skating Union. “I’m just very impressed (with) myself and of all the work I have put into this.”

Malinin, who grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, has been coached by his parents, Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinina, who were Olympic skaters for Uzbekistan. During his quick ascent, he added famed coach Rafael Arutyunyan, who guided Chen to gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, to his team.

Arutyunyan, who believes Malinin could be the first skater to hit a quintuple jump as soon as next season, has cautioned Malinin to not reach too high too fast, instead employing a strategy Arutyunyan used with Chen to slowly build up Malinin for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.