American figure skater Ilya Malinin plans to perform a quadruple axel in the free skate at the Grand Prix final in Beijing, December 7-9. This was reported by sports.ru.
During training skating before the short program, Malinin tried the quad axel three times – two attempts were successful, in one of them the athlete made a mistake and fell.
Malinin, 18, is an American of Russian descent. He performed the quadruple axel cleanly in the free program for the first time in history at the US International Classic tournament held in Lake Placid (New York, USA) in September 2022. He was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the performance of this element.
At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) appealed to international sports federations, recommending that domestic and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. After the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Russian figure skaters will not be able to compete internationally due to suspensions.
Previously Alina Zagitova statedHe said he would work as a coach at a figure skating school.