When did Ilia Malinin realize he loved figure skating?
Evidently, on the day that "will forever be known as the worst day of my life."
Everyone saw the "Quad God" shockingly fall apart during the 2026 Winter Olympics
, not winning a medal in men's singles – a result few saw coming. While everyone tried to figure out what happened to the gold-medal favorite and wondered what was next for him, the 21-year-old truly found solace in the unraveling."It really showed that I truly care about this sport, and I'm not doing the sport just because I want the medals, or I need the prize money, or I need the records, or I need some kind of name," he said. "I just keep doing it because it's my passion. It's my inspiration. It's the thing that keeps me going
every day."
Keep going he will.
After winning another world championship and spending the spring and summer skating freely on the ice across the country, Malinin has geared up for a new season, using that experience to power him into this vastly different person from nine months ago. He will kick off his 2026-27 slate at Skate America, Nov. 13-15 in Everett, Washington.
In his first media availability of the season on Thursday, Nov. 5, Malinin was asked several times about what unfolded in Milano-Cortina. A believer of everything happens for a reason, he still has no regrets regarding the events that led up to and occurred during the Olympics, seeing it as something "that I needed to go through to get the experience, to get all the nerves, get all the experiences, the opportunities out" of what was a pressure-packed season.
All of it has made for a vastly different approach this time around. Instead of trying to live up to expectations, Malinin wants to challenge himself and improve.
The skater described his approach to 2026-27 as "trying to have the hardest programs in the world," noting they are step-ups technically and artistically. He sought difficult transitions, trying to test his abilities on the ice. He has spent the past two months ramping up his training for Skate America, and during that process, one thing was clear: this was the most fun he's had skating in the past four years.
"I definitely have surprised myself with the programs this year," he said. "I know that 100% that I would not be able to pull any of these programs off if it were done a few years ago."
Whether it's his demeanor or his words, it's easy to tell this isn't the same Malinin from before. The outside standard remains for him to win every competition, but his handle of it differs, learning from everything he goes through to become a more knowledgeable skater.
It makes you wonder if we have entered a new stage of Malinin. He became a star through the "Quad God" nickname, dazzling audiences with his famed quadruple Axel no skater could match. While the move likely stays in his arsenal (he hasn't given any indication of what elements he will perform), the "Quad God" persona he owned came from a youthful and whimsical personality.
Malinin is still young, but he appears to have matured overnight. Is this a new version of the "Quad God," or something different?
"I would say that it's definitely a mix of both," Malinin said. "The best way to describe it is definitely an evolution of someone that I could possibly be, but also, just from everything that I experienced from my career, from my life has really just changed everything, kind of almost rewired my brain and rewired my perspective on life. Everything just feels like not necessarily new, but it feels like a little more foreign."
The new stage of Malinin sets up him for another successful campaign, all leading toward a fifth consecutive U.S. title and fourth consecutive world championship. There's great importance at Skate America, which should show him how his conditioning handles the program, how audiences perceive it and how he responds to any pressure. From there, it's refining and tweaking parts of it.
It's the start of a grueling cycle, yet Malinin still has excitement. While expectations remain, he's not focusing on placement or awards like he spent the years leading up to the Olympics, trying to validate his quick rise up the sport. Instead, he's going to ride the roller coaster of it with happiness, actually enjoying the skating.
All thanks to that day where everything changed, setting up Malinin on a quest toward enjoying the journey that kicks off the road to the 2030 Winter Olympics.
"I believe I want to go to bigger and greater heights," Malinin said. "I think this is really just the start and the stepping point for what's to come next."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Quad God' evolved: Ilia Malinin returns to the ice a changed skater
