Vienna Figure Skater Ilia Malinin Wins U.S. Championship Men's Title

VIENNA, VA — Ilia Malinin, a George C. Marshall High School senior from Vienna, become the men's national winner in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Sunday. The competition wrapped up Sunday in San Jose, California as the 18-year-old won his first title.

Malinin, who brands himself as the "Quadg0d," took the spotlight by becoming the first in history to complete a quad Axel at the U.S. International Classic in fall 2022.

At Sunday's U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he completed a quadruple flip, Salchow and Lutz despite a fall attempting the quadruple Axel in the free skate, according to the U.S. Figure Skating website. His total score was 287.74.

"This wasn’t the skate that I wanted," Malinin said via an Associated Press report. "There’s always ups and downs, and you just have to get over it and move on for the next thing."

However, Malinin won praise from second place skater Jason Brown.

"You did a triple lutz-triple axel-triple toe at the end of your program, and I did a knee slide and could barely get up to do a triple flip. And I fell." Brown said, as reported by AP. " All I can say is just keep it up, because it’s incredible, and the way that you’re pushing the sport is incredible."

According to the Olympics website, the 18-year-old Malinin became the youngest U.S. men's champion since Nathan Chen, a 2022 Beijing Olympics competitor who scored his first championship at 17 years old. Malinin was not selected for the men's team at the 2022 Beijing Olypmics even though he finished second to Chen at the national championship last year. The next Winter Olympics will be in 2026 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Malinin is affiliated with the Washington Figure Skating Club and trains in Reston. He is a Marshall High School senior who will graduate in 2023.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.