It’s Time to Stop: “Quad God” Taking Things Too Far

Ilia Malinin’s successful quad axel attempt makes us think: “Do we really need all of this?"

By: Megan Hovey

Ilia Malinin is America’s new bald eagle in figure skating. Exuberant, airy, and just a tad bit cocky, like he knows he owns the place. After all, the 17-year-old’s Instagram username is @quadg0d.

He exemplifies the American dream, too. Malinin’s parents immigrated to the United States from Russia, adding another win to the ongoing war between the U.S. and Russia that doesn’t even exist. We got someone to come over to the “good side.” Take that, Russia.

I’m sure they wish that they could claim him as one of their own now.

On Sept. 14, Malinin became the first person to land a quad axel in competition at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Lake Placid, New York, sending the skating world into a frenzy.

Axels are considered the hardest jump category out of all the different types because the skater takes off facing forwards, not backwards (thus adding an extra half revolution). A quad axel boasts four and a half revolutions.

No one ever thought we would see a successful quad axel attempt. Yuzuru Hanyu, the 2018 Olympic champion in men’s figure skating, tried the jump back in 2021 at the Japanese Championships. It wasn’t fully rotated, thus deemed “no good.”

The first quad (a quad toe loop) was landed in competition by Canadian Kurt Browning in 1988. For reference, that jump is now regarded as a “duh” for male figure skaters. You must have that in your arsenal in order to make any moves toward the podium.

Everyone else seems to welcome these new records, enthralled that skaters are testing the laws of physics for a chance to get a piece of metal on a ribbon.

But guess what? I don’t buy it. In fact, I think that this news is just another tick in the pitiful downfall of figure skating.

Let’s go back to the basics. Figure skating, as defined by Oxford Languages, is “the competitive sport of ice skating in prescribed patterns (figures) and choreographed free skating.” Do you see jumps mentioned? Me neither.

Sure, the jumps are exciting. They’re exciting when skaters actually land them. When they don’t, you get second-hand embarrassment. You want to reach over the boards and turn off their music, saving them from any more humiliation. It’s like watching a car crash. You should look away, but you can’t.

There are two parts to a score in figure skating. One is focused on the technical elements (jumps and spins), and the other one is focused on the program components (presentation, skating skills and composition). The goal is to have relatively similar scores in both categories.

At the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, Malinin scored 108.69 points in the technical elements category of his free skate. On the program components side, he scored a meek 77.75 points.

Sure, he won the gold medal. But watch his free skate and you’ll see there’s nothing in between the jumps. It’s just him skating around, eyes glazed over. He’ll do an arm movement here and there, almost seeming to check a box. His skating is B O R I N G.

Oh, and people forget to mention this little known fact in their event recaps: he fell on his quad lutz after he landed the quad axel.

And he fell twice in his short program the day before, where he finished in sixth place.

Jason Brown, a member of Team USA, elects not to attempt any quads in his programs. Instead, he focuses on interpreting his music and truly feeling the moment, providing the audience with a show. What a concept!

At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Brown scored 87.66 in the technical elements portion of his free skate. On the program components side, he scored 96.34 points.

We, as viewers, love to watch perfection play out on the ice. We almost expect it out of the skaters (even though I know a majority of us can’t even stand up on skates).

What seems perfect to a figure skating viewer is rarely perfect to the judges. Skaters can receive edge calls (not taking off on the proper edge for a jump), downgrades (not fully rotating a jump) and falls (of course).

The idea of a “perfect” program is dying. Out of the 24 entries at the 2022 Winter Olympics for the individual men’s free skate, 15 of them had errors on their scoring sheets (Brown was not one of them).

We’ve got to do better. The sport is dying as we know it. Figure skating can be just as incredible and exciting without these big elements taking away from the beauty and essence of the sport itself.

As Malinin moved through his free skate in Lake Placid, I couldn’t help but laugh at one of his music choices. It seemed too ironic to be true.

“I’m Tired,” by Labrinth and Zendaya from the hit television show “Euphoria.”

Guess what, Ilia? I’m tired, too.