Early career Malinin began skating at the age of six in 2011 under the tutelage of his parents in
Reston, Virginia. When he was a child, he often preferred playing soccer to training in a cold arena, but his grandfather advised his parents to be patient, saying "he'll [gain] his triple jumps, [and then] you won't be able to drag him away.”
Junior career 2019–20 season: Junior international debut Malinin made his junior international debut at the
Philadelphia Summer International, where he won the gold medal. On the
2019 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit, he placed fourth at the
JGP in the United States and seventh at the
JGP in Italy. As a result of his placement, he was invited to participate in the Las Vegas Invitational, where he helped
Team Tara defeat
Team Johnny. He gained the nickname "Quad God" after adopting the
Instagram handle "quadg0d" in late 2020, as inspiration for the
quadruple jumps that he was striving to learn. Malinin was unable to compete at the
2021 U.S. Championships after missing the qualifying competition due to an ankle injury.
2021–22 season: World Junior champion and two Junior Grand Prix gold With the resumption of the
Junior Grand Prix circuit, Malinin returned to international competition at the first edition of the
2021 JGP in France in
Courchevel, winning the gold medal despite errors on both of his attempted
quadruple jumps in his
free skate. He called it "a struggle since I haven't competed in a year, but I think now that I'm back, things are starting going back to normal." At his second event, the
2021 JGP in Austria in
Linz, Malinin entered as one of the favorites for the gold medal and won with new personal bests in all segments. However, the event was later cancelled due to travel restrictions to Japan prompted by the
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Malinin finished the season at the
2022 World Junior Championships, which was delayed from early March to mid-April and relocated from Bulgaria to Estonia. He entered the event as the favorite for the gold medal based on his strong season. In the
short program, he set a new junior world record of 88.99. He won the free skate as well, setting junior world records for that segment and for total score, winning the gold medal by a margin of almost 42 points.
Senior career 2021–22 season: Senior international debut Early in his senior career, he became known for his technical prowess, particularly for landing multiple quadruple jumps, including quad-quad combinations. Returning to the senior level at the
2021 Cup of Austria in November, he placed thirteenth in the
short program, but rallied back with a second-place
free skate to win the bronze medal. Malinin's placement meant that, per qualification criteria, the third berth on the Olympic team was to be decided between him and fourth-place
Jason Brown. Ultimately, the committee chose Brown, a result that attracted some controversy. Malinin was instead assigned to make his
World Championship debut later in the year. Brown praised him, saying: "U.S. figure skating is so lucky to have such a bright future with Ilia." In advance of the
2022 World Championships, Malinin was sent to the
International Challenge Cup to secure the required
technical minimum scores. He was successful, winning the gold medal in the process.
2022–23 season: World bronze and first Grand Prix Final medal Malinin opened his season at the
2022 U.S. International Classic. He placed sixth in his short program. His free skate, which was set to the
Euphoria soundtrack and choreographed by
Shae-Lynn Bourne, American figure skater
Adam Rippon called Malinin's accomplishment "the craziest thing I've ever seen anyone do on the ice.” His free skate also included a difficult
triple Lutz-
triple Axel jump combination. He fell while attempting a
quadruple Lutz, but successfully completed all of his other jumps. He finished first in the free skate, earning a total of 257.28 points and finishing overall in first place. Returning to the senior
Grand Prix at the
2022 Skate America, Malinin fell on his
quadruple toe loop, but earned 86.08 points in his short program, which put him in fourth place. including a "beautiful" and "nearly perfectly" executed quadruple Axel. He also completed a quadruple toe loop, a quadruple Lutz, and a quadruple Salchow in the first half of the program. After an error on the Lutz combination in the second half, the
Associated Press reported that "with an almost sheepish smile", At his second event, the
2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, Malinin placed second in the short program, revealing afterward that he was "a little bit injured". He won the free skate decisively, moving into first place and winning his second gold medal. There, Malinin placed fifth in the short program with a score of 80.10. He rebounded in the free skate, finishing in second place. Malinin entered the
2023 U.S. Championships as the gold medal favorite, and after a season of difficulties in the short program, delivered a clean performance to finish first in the segment. He acknowledged afterward that "this season, all the short programs have been really tough, and I think that we took every single one of them and thought about where we need to work and what to improve" to get to that performance. Malinin had planned to attempt six quadruple jumps in his free skate, but fell on one and doubled two others. He placed second in that segment, but won the gold medal on the strength of his short program score. At the
2023 World Championships, Malinin placed second in the short program, with a score of 100.38 points. He went on to attempt the most technically difficult free skate ever seen at the World Championships with six quadruple jumps, landing three cleanly – including the quadruple Axel, the first ever performed at an ISU championship event
2023–24 season: World champion and Grand Prix Final gold Malinin won the gold medal at the
2023 Autumn Classic International, his first international appearance of the season. He scored 105.43 and secured first place in the short program. In his free skate, he attempted seven quadruple jumps. He fell on one of his two quadruple Lutzes. He landed all of his other quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel. His free skate earned 186.69 points, bringing his total score to 292.12 to secure the gold medal. In his free skate, he attempted all six types of quadruple jumps, but fell on his attempted quadruple loop. He expressed frustration in not landing this jump, saying, "one of my main goals coming here was to finally land that quad loop this season. I think it’s given me kind of a feedback of what I want to do in terms of leading up to the next competition or future seasons." On March 2, 2025, Malinin took part in
Legacy on Ice, an ice show organized by
U.S. Figure Skating that paid tribute to lives lost aboard
American Airlines Flight 5342. During the gala, Malinin dedicated his performance,
To Build a Home by
The Cinematic Orchestra, to the victims and first responders of the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash. Selected to compete for Team United States at the
2025 World Team Trophy, Malinin won all competition segments of the men's singles event, aiding Team United States in securing the gold medal overall.|339x339pxThe following month, he took his sixth individual
Grand Prix gold at
2025 Grand Prix de France. "Right now, I feel very confident and happy with how things went", he said. "I did feel very nervous going out there. The goal was simply to make it to the end in one piece." "It almost felt like I was on autopilot and everything was just happening one element after the other", he said. On February 7, Malinin placed second in the short program in the
2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event behind Japan's
Yuma Kagiyama. The following day, he placed first in the free program despite stepping out of a quad Lutz attempt and failing to perform a quad Lutz jump combination, securing gold for the United States in the team event. "I really went out there and just decided, okay, let the nerves down", he said after the free skate. ”You just really need to get in that zone, you really just let things happen. And I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of my team, for all the work they’ve put in. We wouldn’t have gotten this gold medal without any of them.” In the
men's singles event, which Malinin was heavily favored to win, he placed first in the short program after successfully performing a quadruple flip, triple Axel, and quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination. However, he struggled in the free skate: he performed a single Axel, double loop, and double Salchow in place of a planned quadruple Axel, quadruple loop, and quadruple Salchow respectively; he also fell on a repeated quadruple Lutz and again on the double Salchow. He finished in 15th place in the segment and 8th place overall. Malinin said after the event that he struggled with the pressure of being the Olympic gold medal favorite and that his mistakes were "definitely mental", stating "Honestly, I still haven't been able to process what just happened, it's a lot of mixed emotions [...] it's not like any other competition. It's the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure in the nerves that actually happen from the inside, so it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like I had no control." After Malinin received his scores and it was announced that
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan had won the gold medal, Malinin hugged and congratulated him. "I watched him skate from the locker room and I'm just so proud of him," Malinin said afterward. "We're all in this sport together, and we're there for each other. That’s what makes this sport special. I think people forget that sometimes. They only see us competing and assume we’re rivals without good relationships. But it's actually the opposite. There’s joy, motivation, encouragement; we're like a big family." In March, Malinin completed his season by winning the
2026 World Championships, marking his third consecutive world championship title. He finished first in both the short program and free skate and set a new personal best score of 111.29 in the short program. “It felt really great just being out there,” said Malinin after the short program. “That’s one thing that I really wanted—to enjoy. I had no expectations coming into the event. I simply wanted to go." “I’m really relieved that this season is finally done after really long ups and downs the whole season,” he said after the event. “I’m very glad to be here at the World Championships and it was a different change of mindset to come here.” ==Skating style and influences==