BOSTON — “Nervous.” That was one of the first words to roll off the lips of Ilia Malinin late Thursday afternoon, this after the Quadg0d submitted a scrapbook-worthy short program at the World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden.
Nervous? Malinin is the defending world champion. He has won eight straight competitions, including the U.S. Figure Skating Championships two months ago in Wichita, Kan. And as you’ve probably heard, he’s the only skater to competitively land a fully rotated quadruple axel, which is not to be confused with the fully armed and operational battle station from “Return of the Jedi.”
How could this 20-year-old dynamo be … nervous?
He doesn’t have a clue.
“Stepping on the ice, I felt more nervous than usual,” Malinin said after nailing every one of his elements en route to posting a score of 110.41. “And I didn’t understand why, and I was like, OK, interesting. But once the music started playing and I got into a starting position, I almost fell into that flow state and it really just took me from there.”
What’s also interesting — fascinating, really — is how Malinin was able to correlate this unexplained nervousness with his performance. “I guess it had to happen to have a skate like that,” is how he put it.
That’s some deep psychological stuff, this idea that one needs to be that nervous to be that good. But in Malinin’s world, it’s working in these worlds. For added drama, it didn’t hurt that Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, the last skater to do his short program, followed Malinin and submitted a score of 107.09, landing him in second place, some 3 points behind Malinin.
The three leaders — Malinin, Kagiyama and Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan (third place, 94.77) — were gathered together for some Q&A after the short program, with Kagiyama saying of Malinin, “It’s not just his jumps. I feel like his skating, artistry and expression are getting better year by year. I’m starting to think he’s invincible.” (Malinin, who got a kick out of that, said the two are good friends and enjoy “a friendly rivalry.”)
For anyone hoping Malinin would deliver his world-renowned quad axel Thursday afternoon, that will be on the docket during the Saturday night free skate. But he provided enough skating razzmatazz during the matinee to have the TD Garden masses roaring their approval before Malinin had even completed his short program. Quadruple flip? Check. Triple axel? Check. Quad lutz/triple toe loop? Check.
“I think it’s definitely one of the best (short programs) that I’ve done so far,” Malinin said. “Going back home after nationals, I really took a different approach to training. I think that really affected how I went out on the ice.”
We’ll be watching Ilia Malinin’s short program on repeat all night long. ⭐️ #WorldFigure pic.twitter.com/JKZBQHMIVl
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) March 27, 2025
The different approach?
“Just being a lot more picky with all the small, minor adjustments I have to make, or working on the things that are not as powerful for me,” Malinin said.
Whatever it was, and is, figure skating fans are taking notice. Malinin was cheered before, during and after his performance. That’s a rarity at TD Garden these days, given the manner in which the hometown Boston Bruins (seven straight losses) are playing out the NHL string.
“I was not expecting them to be cheering me halfway through my step sequence,” Malinin said, “but it was definitely an uplifting experience and it felt really good.
“And when the whole audience was going crazy at the end, I remember that,” he said. “My mind is either thinking of something or thinking of nothing.”
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Whether he’s thinking about it or not, Malinin is owning figure skating these days. And he knows it. And likes it. “I’m really happy for that and for the sport in general,” he said. “I really want for the sport to be one of the bigger sports again.”
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)