It’s a jump that has never been completed on Olympic ice — and one many skaters long thought to be impossible — until now.
It’s called a quadruple axel, or a “quad axel.”
And it’s one only American phenom Ilia Malinin, aptly named the “Quad God,” has ever landed in competition. If he does it on Friday, he’d be the first to do it in the Olympics.
So what makes it so challenging?
The axel is the only one of figure skating’s six primary jumps that starts facing forward, giving it an extra half revolution. In fact, the jump is so difficult even elite skaters struggle with the triple version of it.
“I never thought I’d see anybody do a quadruple axel,” admitted 1984 Olympic champion Scott Hamilton. “Not in my lifetime.”
But Malinin surprised everyone when he completed the feat during a seemingly off-the-radar competition the same year he was controversially left off the 2022 Beijing Olympics skating team.
In September 2022, during the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, he stunned the sport by setting down a near-perfect version of the quad axel as part of his winning free skate. He was just 17 at the time.
At last year’s world championships in Boston, he landed it again along with five additional quad jumps, propelling him to his second straight title with the second-largest margin of victory in its 130-year history.
“Seeing what Ilia has done in the last three years has been mind-boggling,” 1994 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi said. “I know several of us — Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton — we’ve talked, saying, ‘We have never imagined we would be alive to see a quad axel performed and landed in competition,’ and here comes Ilia, just whipping it off like it’s nothing.’”
The jump requires him to spin at about 340 revolutions per minute, or about as fast as a ceiling fan set to high.
“Even as a skater I struggle to comprehend how he does what he does. We all do,” Olympian Jason Brown told NBC Chicago, saying the jump “defies gravity.”
And it scores big points for a reason.
A triple axel has a base value of 8.0 points, but the quad has a base of 12.5. Throw in the additional points Malinin could earn for the degree of execution and the quad axel gives him a massive scoring advantage.
The question now is not if he can do, but will he even try at the Winter Olympics?
Malinin, who will skate last in the event, has been teasing fans throughout the Games by submitting program plans that have the quad axel in it. Yet through two programs in the gold medal-winning team event and his individual short program Tuesday night, he has yet to attempt it.
Could he be saving it for his grand finale?
The plan Malinin has submitted for Friday night includes it — naturally — along with what would be a record-tying seven quads in all.
“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it,” Malinin said. “But of course I always prioritize health and safety. So I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it.
The reality is, he doesn’t necessarily need it — and the risk could be higher than the reward.
The rest of Malinin’s programs are so difficult he could win without the jump. His closest competitor, Yuma Kagiyama, has a mere four quads planned for his free skate Friday night. So does Siao Him Fa.
But one thing that could signal an attempt is Malinin already has a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Siao Him Fa going into the free skate, a margin so big that it seems almost insurmountable. The lead offers him some wiggle room should he attempt the quad axel and fail.
“I want him to be a smart competitor,” said Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion. “I know how much it can mean to a skater to have a clean performance in the Olympics, and I really want him to have a clean performance. Yes, technical — as technical as he wants to be. But if one of the quads he aspires to hit, he isn’t feeling great that day, I want him to be solid.”
Malinin has already admitted to feeling a different level of pressure at the Olympics in the team event. Both of his performances were mediocre by his lofty standards. But he felt much more comfortable during his short program, and it was reflected on the ice, where his score of 108.16 was less than a point off his world-leading mark this season.
“I’m coming in as the favorite, but being the favorite is one thing; actually earning it under pressure is another,” Malinin said. “I don’t take it for granted that I’m getting the gold, of course. I still have to put in the work for the long program.”
Olympian and host Scott Hamilton said the change in Malinin’s skating so far, while subtle, has been noticeable.
“I am so glad he’s honest about [his emotions] because you could just sense things were different,” Hamilton said, saying Malinin looked “tight” in his performance Tuesday.
But Malinin has never shied away from raising the bar.
He became among the first to incorporate a backflip into his choreography when its ban was lifted by the International Skating Union last year, for example — and did so at these Olympic Games.
He even has created a signature jump of his own, a leaping, twirling fan-favorite known as the “raspberry twist.” He named it that because “malina,” from which his last name is derived, quite literally means “raspberry” in Russian.
With or without the axel, Malinin could make history depending on how many quads he completes. If he hits seven, it would tie the Olympic record.
The men’s free skate begins at 12 p.m. CT.
Live coverage of the event begins at 11:45 a.m. CT on USA and the second half will air starting at 2 p.m. CT on NBC.
Stream the full program live below:
The skates will re-air in primetime on NBC starting at 7:30 p.m. CT.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
