Ilia Malinin aspires to Olympic gold after her brief performance in a program

Ilia Malinin positioned himself to be in the running for a gold medal after a dominant men’s figure skating short program Tuesday at the Winter Olympics.

Malinin, nicknamed the “Fourfold God”, showed his warrior spirit throughout his performance on the ice. Once he nailed the quad flip on his first jump, all bets were off from there.

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The 21-year-old Virginia native gracefully moved up and down the ice, landing a triple axel before performing his camel spin change. He went up for a quad Lutz triple toe loop and when he came down, he seemed to pump his fist and smile knowing he had hit it as perfectly as possible.

As the energy increased in the routine, Malinin nailed a backflip, drawing applause from the arena. He ended the show with multiple twists.

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Ilia Malinin at center rink during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

“He’s the benchmark,” NBC anchor Johnny Weir said as Malinin waited for his scores.

Malinin earned a score of 108.16. It was enough to stay ahead of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who scored 103.07, and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who scored 102.55.

Malinin already has a gold medal at the Olympics, as Team USA won a mixed team event last week. In that event, he participated in the free skate portion and earned a score of 200.03. It gave the Americans 10 points and allowed Team USA to take the gold medal.

Ilia Malinin performs a trick during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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The men’s individual free skate event will take place on Friday.