Armed with New Repertoire of Quads, Ilia Malinin Prepared and Excited for Return of Junior Grand Prix

Ilia Malinin is making a bold statement with his Instagram handle.
 
The 16-year-old, who almost exclusively posts videos of himself training jumps, goes by "quadg0d."
 
"That's the first thing that came to mind," Malinin said of changing his handle when he couldn't go back to his old one, "lutzgod." "But also, now that I think about it, I think I have to keep my reputation up, because I can't be 'quadg0d' without any quads. So I need to learn everything I can right now. It's kind of like inspiration."
 
Not having quads is not a problem for Malinin. As it currently stands, he says he has the quadruple Salchow and toe consistently, can sometimes land the Lutz and the loop, and is getting close to having the flip as well.
 
As Malinin is currently preparing for the first ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series event in Courchevel, France, on Aug. 18-21, he has triples in his short program to comply with junior-level regulations.
 
"In the long, I'm doing two quads, which are a Sal and toe, just to keep it nice and simple so I can have a chance to just skate clean," Malinin said. "I have a good chance to get a lot of points just by having a simple program. I mean, it's not really that simple, but it's definitely easier than what I had for the competition before."
 
The competition before was his senior Grand Prix debut at 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America last October. Malinin finished fifth -- behind such established names as Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Canada's Keegan Messing, and Tomoki Hiwatashi -- before fracturing his ankle. He was off ice for three or four weeks and had to miss the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
 
Malinin is the 2017 U.S. intermediate champion and 2019 U.S. novice bronze medalist, and would have competed at the junior level in 2021.
 
Though he only competed once last season, he says the time off ended up having its fair share of benefits.
 
"It was definitely a good time for me to practice and get better, because instead of worrying about preparing for a competition, I could just worry about focusing on cleaning everything up, like programs and jumps and spins," Malinin said. "So I think that really helped me, and I think I'll be ready for this season."
 
And for the first time in two years, it's going to be a full season. After being canceled in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021-22 will see the return of the Junior Grand Prix Series.
 
Getting back into the swing of normal training ahead of a normal season has been an adjustment.
 
"It's been a long time," Malinin said. "But I think I'm starting to get used to it a bit more, because it's starting to feel like me three years ago. But obviously it's not like three years ago because I'm definitely better than I was. So it's a bit different."

 
And, of course, "quadg0d" is ready to finally bust out the quads.
 
"I definitely feel very excited, especially because I finally get the chance to try my quads," Malinin said. "Last season I didn't really get a chance to try them because they weren't really consistent, but at the same time I didn't really have anything. I just had a goal to skate clean. But now, over the two years that have gone by, I've definitely improved on quads and am hoping it will get easier in the future."
 
Malinin has two prior Junior Grand Prix events under his belt, with a fourth-place finish in Lake Placid, New York, and a seventh-place finish in Egna, Italy, both in 2019. He also finished 16^th at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2020, which was the last international event available to junior-level skaters.
 
He hopes that having made his senior Grand Prix debut will ultimately prove helpful moving forward this season.
 
"I was really excited to compete with some of the top-level skaters for senior," Malinin said. "It was also a time for me to start getting those quads ready so that, in the future, I can do as many as I want in my program and not have to worry about falling on them because I'll have them so consistent."
 
That focus on his quads comes naturally for Malinin. He's coached by his parents, Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, who were Olympic figure skaters for Uzbekistan.
 
There's not a whole lot of separation between skating and home, but it certainly came in handy when rinks were shut down, when Malinin got to see his coaches and do off-ice training every day.
 
"There's some good and bad sides about it," Malinin said. "Like for example, you definitely get free lessons, which I guess is everyone's dream. But also, since you basically see them every day and all the time, you can talk about all the stuff that I need to do, instead of them having to come up to me for 30 minutes and tell me what I have to do, and I do that, and I go home. You get reminded of what you need to do.
 
"I'd say that there's a lot of good things, more than there are bad things."
 
Ultimately, Malinin has big goals, and whether this season is a stepping-stone or his breakout moment, the "quadg0d" is looking forward to a bright future.
 
"One thing I want to get is definitely qualify for (Junior) Grand Prix Final," Malinin said. "And it would be really cool if I could qualify for the Olympics this year, knowing that it's really hard, especially because you can only send three of the best skaters. I think it'll definitely be a challenge, but I think it's worth a try."

Learn more about the Junior Grand Prix Series and follow along on our competition central page.