American teenage phenom Ilia Malinin makes more figure skating history and wins Grand Prix Final
Ilia Malinin leads the Grand Prix Final after the short program.
(CNN) — American teenage phenomenon Ilia Malinin won his first ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final on Saturday, after he had made even more figure skating history on Thursday.
The 19-year-old became the first person to land a quadruple axel, widely considered the most difficult jump in the sport, during a short program, while competing at one of figure skating’s most prestigious events in Beijing, China.
During the free skate, he then fell attempting to land the quadruple axel again, but brushed off the error to register a career-best score of 207.76 and win the title.
“It’s an incredible feeling to me,” Malinin said afterwards, according to Olympics.com.
He finished with a total of 314.66 points, another personal best, ahead of Japan’s Uno Shoma, the defending champion, who scored 297.34 points.
Malinin, whose Instagram handle “quadg0d” references his history-making exploits, had already landed the jump during a free skate in competitions last year but the stakes are higher in the short program as there is a smaller margin for error with fewer elements in the routine.
“I’m just really glad that I was able to pull it off,” Malinin told reporters after the short program on Thursday, according to Reuters. “Since it was the first time trying it in the short, it was a lot of pressure for me.”
Still the only person to ever complete the quadruple axel in competition, a feat he achieved for the first time at the US International Figure Skating Classic last year, Malinin had removed the impressive jump from his programs this year.
He told Olympics.com on Tuesday that for him, “the base value,” or base level of points the jump is worth, “is not where it should be,” leading him to choose the less risky triple Axel in competition.
Even some of the sport’s most decorated stars have been unable to land a quadruple axel for it requires four-and-a-half revolutions in the air, turning from a forward-facing take off to a backward-facing landing. For 44 years, the jump had been locked at a triple.
But Malinin has changed all that, completing the notoriously difficult jump with an ease that seemingly defies gravity.
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