Ilia Malinin pulls off 'never-before-seen' move days after Olympic heartbreak

Ilia Malinin, the American figure skater who continues to make headlines at this year's Winter Olympics, has landed a 'quadruple Axel variant' for the first time at an Olympic practice session.

It has been a month of mixed emotions for two-time reigning world champion Malinin.

The 21-year-old won gold in the seven-person team event after attempting and successfully landing a backflip – a move that had been banned by the International Skating Union for 47 years between 1977 and 2024.

A few days later and Malinin was the overwhelming favourite to win the men's free skiing event but to the surprise of many, the American missed out on a podium finish after making several errors.

In the early stages of his routine, Malinin was unable to perform a fully-rotated quadruple Axel – a move only he has successfully landed in international competition (at the 2022 CS U.S. International Classic).

Malinin slipped and fell early in his routine. Image credit: BBC Sport

He also lost his footing and fell while performing a quadruple lutz jump.

Despite walking off the ice to a standing ovation from those in attendance, 'Quad God' ended up in eighth position behind eventual winner Mikhail Shaidorov.

You could forgive Malinin for being more tentative on the ice after such a devastating performance in Milan but just days after missing out on an individual medal and the American continues to catch the eye.

For the first time at an Olympic practice session, Malinin landed a quadruple Axel with a Rippon variation as he trained for the upcoming skating gala, the last of the Olympic figure skating events, on February 21.

Footage of his mesmerising jump has gone viral on a Reddit post by lizzybethany36.

As mentioned by the user, a Rippon variation is named after figure skater Adam Rippon and denotes when a jump is performed with both arms lifted high in the air. The difficulty level is increased as a result of the change in the centre of gravity.

"No one in the world has ever landed a quad axel in competition and here comes Ilia, just casually landing new variants of the jump hard on the heels of one of the worst days of his life," the Reddit user added.

Ilia Malinin reacts to losing out on Olympic medal

Speaking after his eighth-place finish in the men's figure skating final, Malinin said: "I was not expecting that. I felt like, going into this competition, I was so ready. But I think maybe that was the reason - maybe I was too confident.

"I think it was definitely mental [that caused the issues]. Now, finally experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it's crazy. It's not like any other competition.

"I'm so, so grateful that I was able to put the effort in to get here. Of course, it was not the skate that I wanted.

"The first thing that came in my mind [at the end] was, 'There's no way that's just happened'. I was preparing all season, I felt so confident. So to go out and have that happen, I have no words, honestly."

He added: "I should take the stuff that I learned from here and use it to my knowledge to see what I can do in the future."