"There's an American figure skater named Ilia Malinin, now perhaps better known, thanks to the brisk exposure of this year's Winter Olympics, by his self-bestowed nickname-the Quad God. He's from a town whose name straddles the Old World and the New: Vienna, Virginia. The kid's only twenty-one years old. He's got a mane of blond hair, blue eyes set close together under a dark brow, and a free, wild way of leaping, as if catapulted from the ice."
"On February 13th, for his free skate, Malinin glided out onto the ice wearing a sheer shirt with sequins studded in the shape of a blooming flame; the sleeves flowed past his wrists and sheathed both of his hands, like a pair of stockings masquerading as mittens. Before his music began, a voice boomed over the rink's speakers: "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." Away he went, with his usual slick velocity."
Ilia Malinin is a 21-year-old American figure skater from Vienna, Virginia, known as the Quad God. He had already won a world championship and other accolades before the Winter Games, making him a favorite for individual and team free-skate gold. Broadcasters streamed events from Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo on NBC and Peacock, capturing competitive unpredictability. For his February 13 free skate he wore a sheer, sequined shirt with long, mitten-like sleeves, and the rink announced a striking motto before he skated. Malinin executed powerful quads, including a quad flip, but when attempting a quadruple axel he wobbled and completed only one rotation; his left leg flailed slightly.
Read at The New Yorker
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