MILAN — “The Quad God” is going for gold.
Ilia Malinin returns to the ice in the men’s free skate on Friday, Feb. 13 where the stage is set for him to become Olympic champion. The 21-year-old U.S. star heads into the final men’s singles figure skating event with a healthy lead over Yuma Gagiyama of Japan.
While the wide expectation Malinin has the gold medal wrapped up, the figure skating world eagerly awaits if he will execute his signature quad Axel. He has yet to do it, and landing it for the first time in Winter Olympic history would punctuate a golden outing. He also is likely to perform his fourth backflip of the Games.
What time will Ilia Malinin perform?
Malinin is scheduled to skate approximately at 4:45 p.m. ET.
How to watch Ilia Malinin today
The men’s free skate will air on NBC. It is also streaming on Peacock.
Watch Olympic figure skating on Peacock
Ilia Malinin free skate program
Here are the planned elements for Malinin’s free skate:
- Quad flip
- Quad Axel
- Quad lutz
- Quad loop
- Change foot camel spin
- Step sequence
- Quad lutz + single euler + triple flip
- Quad toeloop + triple toeloop
- Quad salchow + triple Axel + sequence
- Choreo sequence
- Flying sit spin
- Change foot combination spin
Are backflips allowed in figure skating?
Yes, they are now.
For nearly 50 years, the backflip was banned in figure skating, after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first one to execute it at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. French skater Surya Bonaly did it at the 1998 Winter Olympics, landing it on one blade, but the move was illegal and she was penalized for it.
The International Skating Union reversed course and made the move legal in 2024, paving the way for it to be done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, 50 years after it was first done. Malinin has done it in all three performances in Milano Cortina.