Figure skater Ilia Malinin, representing the United States, won the short program at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Beijing.
The 19-year-old athlete received 106.90 points for his performance. Ilia performed a perfect quadruple axel, becoming the first skater in history who managed to do this element in the short program.
In 2023, Malinin became a bronze medalist at the World Championships and the U.S. champion in singles skating, as well as the winner of the World Team Championships. His parents are figure skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, who previously competed at international competitions for the Uzbekistan national team.
Earlier, the athlete's agent Ari Zakaryan said he was confident that Malinin would be able to do a quintuple Salchow or toe loop in the future.
