Ilia Malinin, known as the “Quad God,” is redefining the limits of figure skating.
Having recently become the first skater to execute seven quadruple jumps in a single programme, including the once-mythical quadruple Axel, the American prodigy is now hinting at an even more audacious feat: the sport’s inaugural quintuple jump.
While he insists such an attempt won’t happen before the upcoming Milano Cortina Games, prioritizing precision over experimentation for the Olympics, the mere suggestion has sent ripples through the figure skating world.
Malinin, 21, spoke casually of the five-revolution leap, as if it were a routine upgrade rather than a monumental challenge.
“The most realistic bar is when my body starts to give up on me, so we’ll figure out when that is, but I’m sure at least one or two quints hopefully will be possible,” Malinin stated at last month’s Grand Prix Final, where his seven clean quads shattered his own world record in the free programme.
He added, “It’s in the works. It’s there, but after the Olympics that’s when I want to give most of my attention to landing the quint for the public.”
When asked which jump he would choose to add a fifth revolution to, he listed them all, laughing, “I’ll keep you guys on your feet. I want to push myself as far as I can. I want to find out who I truly am. I’m a perfectionist, so I want to improve everything – technique, creativity, artistry. I want to know if there are any limits in the world.”
A decade ago, the notion of a quintuple jump was widely dismissed as fantasy. Canadian Kurt Browning, the first skater to land a ratified quad in competition back in 1988, famously quipped in a 2014 interview that a skater attempting a quint “wouldn’t have shoulders and hips. They’d just be like a string with skates on.”
He added, “Maybe there will be a sighting of a Sasquatch at the same time that there’s a sighting of a quint… But I just don’t think the quint will ever be a consistent thing like it is the quad. There’s just too much gravity.”
Five-time Olympic ice dance medallist Scott Moir echoed this sentiment in 2014, stating, “Nobody ever thought anybody would run a four-minute mile, nobody ever thought anybody would run a 9.7 (seconds) in the 100 metres, you’d have to think that our kids’ kids might be doing quints. But I think that’s a long way away. Watching someone do a quad is mind-boggling still for me.”
Yet, if the quint was once considered impossible, Malinin is the skater making the impossible feel routine.
The Virginian has already ushered the sport into a new era, notably by mastering the quad Axel. He recently astonished observers with an Instagram video showcasing a nonchalant quad Axel-quad Axel combination.
Three-time world champion Patrick Chan believes Malinin possesses the ideal physique for the quint.
“He has the narrow hips, long legs, a lot of leverage, he’s got the big pendulum effect that might help,” the 35-year-old Canadian told Reuters.
Beyond physicality, Chan highlighted Malinin’s mental fortitude: “I think it’s just his confidence. He’s willing to throw himself and try it, he’s not scared of the unknown. He’s just so malleable. He reminds me of little kids, he’s flopping around, he falls and pops right back up.”
Three-time world champion Elvis Stojko, who landed the first quad jump in combination in 1991, has witnessed the sport’s evolution for decades and believes the quint has been an inevitable progression.
“I had done quads on some days that I was like, ‘Man, if I had a little bit more speed, a little bit more snap, I can probably do five,'” Stojko told Reuters, concurring with Chan that Malinin’s body is perfectly suited.
“In order to be consistent with the quads, he has the perfect body type, he’s very thin, Ilia has the body type, because he’s like a pencil. It’s easier to rotate a pencil through the air than a fan.”
Malinin is the clear favourite for gold in his Olympic debut. Chan pondered what challenge remains for a skater who has set such a high bar so young.
“The best way is by doing what he knows best, more difficult jumps and more rotations in the air,” Chan suggested, contrasting it with improving performance or artistry.
“I think Ilia would get more fulfilment in landing a quint, adding a new line of elements to the rule book – that’s pretty cool.”
Indeed, while no one has landed one in competition, the International Skating Union has already added quint jumps to its Scale of Values for the 2024/25 season, assigning base values to all but the Axel.
Malinin’s relentless pursuit of perfection and his unique physical and mental attributes position him as the pioneer poised to once again rewrite the rulebook of figure skating, pushing the boundaries of human capability on ice.
