Ilia Malinin, the ‘Quad God,’ leaves an ace up his sleeve.

Credit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesIlia Malinin, the ‘Quad God,’ leaves an ace in his sleeve.Credit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesSKIP Feb. 7, 2026Updated 4:27 p.m. ETTo all you casual winter sports fans just tuning in to the BBC or NBC for your quadrennial dose of people doing impossible things on snow and ice, welcome to the Ilia Malinin Show. ImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesMalinin, the 21-year old American known as Quad God, landed two quadruples on Saturday, but didn’t try the most challenging jump of all — the quad axel — which only he has ever landed in a competition. ImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesMaking his Olympic debut at Milano Ice Skating Arena, Malinin skated a safe routine in the men’s portion of the figure skating team event, at least by his lofty standards. He nailed a quad flip and a triple axel to get things started. The only points judges deducted were for an under-rotated quad Lutz. ImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesThat slight deduction was enough for Japan’s Yuma Agiyama, above, to finish with the night’s highest score. Agiyama wowed the judges with a flawless combination of artistry and technical skill. ImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesMalinin, the two-time world champion and heavy favorite going into these Games, was very likely saving his best for the men’s individual competition. He has been a sport-redefining athlete — think Simone Biles — for the past two years. Landing a quad axel at the Olympics would probably earn him a gold medal and cement his place among the all-time greats of the sport. ImageCredit...Vincent Alban/The New York TimesVincent Alban is a photojournalist and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.SKIP