Russian genes and coaches made the American figure skater Malinin do the impossible

And so, two statements collided. No, at first it was not a word, but a deed. Ilya Malinin, an American, 17 years old, performed a historic jump at the official tournament. And he made it, as if quite an ordinary axel for men in three and a half. But in fact, he showed how to get closer to five revolutions. Because an Axel of four is a jump of four and a half turns, such is the nature of the element. Unlike all jumps, it is done from the skate forward, that is, in the direction of travel, hence the half turn. Axel in one turn is 1.5 turns, and so on.

The jump is tricky. Not all men who perform quads well are fluent in it. In the programs of girls, the triple axel (nicknamed the trixel) appears more and more actively, but this activity with varying success often fails. And the clearest example of his insidiousness is the long struggle with the axel of Alexandra Trusova. The queen of jumps made a mistake while doing it, and in Beijing 2022.

Before the Olympic Games in Beijing, the famous coach Alexei Mishin, telling that he is advising an outstanding figure skater who plans to do a jump of 4.5 turns, said: “With the current level of development of a person’s physical qualities, I think no one will do a quadruple axel well in my life “. And he explained: in order to move to a qualitatively new level, a breakthrough is needed, for example, as in speed skating – take the skates and release the heels so that they squelch, and world records soar into the sky. Or, as in athletics: it was necessary to start high jumping not with scissors or “flip-flop”, but with a flossbury flop. “We need a new idea, a new technique – what it is, I don’t know.”

American Dick Fosbury once revolutionized the high jump. The style of conquering the bar was named after him. And “flop” means to fail, flop, flop. Funny and brilliant.

Until the summer of this year, it seemed that failure in the attempts to perform the quadruple axel was inevitable for the time being. Even geniuses. If Yuzuru Hanyu could not cope with the jump … And in Beijing 2022, the same two-time Olympic champion consulted by Mishin seemed to confirm the words of the coach. Unique and magical on the ice, Hanyu, for whom the quad axel was the number one idea of ​​the Olympic season, risked a medal, yet trying to perform this jump for the first time in history. But, alas.

“I think today I was pushing the boundaries,” Hanyu said, admitting that if he had abandoned the quadruple Axel, he could have made a more expensive combination. But “trying to perform has become my pride and makes me feel more complete.” And this expression – “to feel complete” – in the mouth of the ice genius did not bother anyone. And it shouldn’t have. He then spoke about his (and not only) talent and the possibilities to use it one hundred percent. Because talent must be fearless.

And the kid Malinin, who has long been not ashamed to give himself a nickname in social networks “quadgod”, that is, the God of quadruples (!), saw this story in Beijing in February in his own way. Just like it should have. Hanyu, according to Ilya, inspired him to a historical feat. “Earlier, I had the idea to try it. In March, April, I really began to work on the technique of the jump, improve it, ”he commented on the desire to do a quad axel to the Washington Post.

All those who were interested saw the fruits of training just in the summer: on the social network, Ilya posted his axel, performed not just cleanly, but impudently clean. It remained to legitimize relations with the history of figure skating, to show four and a half turns at an international tournament.

He did it again with wonderful audacity. In the easiest way. The purest. It is a pity that the stands of the tournament in Lake Placid did not explode with delight, they were almost empty. I also got a point for the performance class. To begin with, however, he failed the short program, falling from two quads. But the US International Classic tournament in Lake Placid, USA, has now gone down in history: the development of men’s single skating has risen to a stage that it could not get close to for a long time. Axel in four turns is the most difficult and expensive jump to evaluate: its base value on the scale of the International Skating Union is 12.5 points.

After the victory, Malinin admitted that in training it is quite easy for him to understand how to do everything so that the attempt is good. But “doing it in a competition is a whole other thing, because the nerves and pressure can get in the way, so you have to feel like I’m at home.” The feeling was captured.

Ilya Malinin will turn 18 in December. His name and surname, of course, warm our Russian soul. Ilya’s parents, they are also coaches – Tatyana Malinina (Olympic participant, victory in the 1998 Grand Prix final, gold at the 1999 Four Continents Championship) and Roman Skornyakov (Olympic participant, winner of the Asian Winter Games). Both played for Russia and Uzbekistan, moved to the USA a long time ago, Ilya was born in America. And there is also the famous coach Rafael Harutyunyan nearby, to whom the coaches turned for help. The same wise mentor that led to the phenomenal victories of the Olympic champion Nathan Chen.

By the way, only one Chen young Malinin (and he then already owned all the quadruple jumps that really exist in “nature”) and lost at the US pre-Olympic championship. But they didn’t take the guy to Beijing 2022, the US Federation preferred Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown. What provoked a violent reaction from Rafael Harutyunyan: indignation at the unprofessional approach of those who make decisions. Malinin also did not hide his reaction to not getting to Beijing: “I should have been there.”

What else? In a podcast by American figure skater Polina Edmunds, the now-historic figure skater Malinin admitted that he would try to perform something that no one had yet threatened. The cascades of quads that he does in training are all entertainment, and “they take a lot of energy, it’s difficult, from the point of view of mentality, it affects the whole program.” But he is interested in new steps forward: “I will try the arrangement in a free program with seven quadruples.” Now for sure – with a quadruple axel.

Will it come true or not? Let him try. He has a sea of ​​work to develop himself. Malinin is just starting his journey on adult ice. He, too, must expand the boundaries of his own talent and “feel complete.” Catching up with geniuses is not so easy.