'Pioneer' Ilia Malinin produces another backflip as he leads competition in race for gold at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games
By Ben Southby
Updated 11/02/2026 at 00:48 GMT
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Ilia Malinin once again showed he is the man to beat in the men's singles figure skating competition with a score of 108.16. His short program routine featured another backflip, while Adam Siao Him Fa and Yuma Kagiyama also impressed as the top 24 qualified for Friday's free skate and the chance to medal. TNT Sports pundit Mark Hanretty claimed that Malinin has "revolutionised" the sport.
Malinin 'doesn't disappoint' as he delivers another epic routine
Video credit: TNT Sports
Ilia Malinin, the red-hot favourite for gold, stamped his authority on the men's singles figure skating competition with another backflip during the short program at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
USA's Malinin, who has already picked up a gold medal in his debut Games, posted a score of 108.16 to impressively top the leaderboard as the penultimate skater to take to the ice during Tuesday's event.
The American "laid the hammer down" and was "back with a vengeance", according to TNT Sports commentator Simon Reed, as he shot to the top of the standings.
TNT Sports pundit Mark Hanretty went one further on his assessment of the "very special" 21-year-old, and claimed that Malinin has "revolutionised" figure skating of late with his daring moves.
"He's somewhat of a pioneer," Hanretty claimed.
"I suppose you see this in all sports, whereby somebody steps outside the parapet, somebody changes the benchmark and the parameters for expectation.
"I suspect that in this next Olympic cycle, everybody is going to jump up to follow, but in the last Olympics in 2022, he didn't compete.
"He has revolutionised in this cycle; his impact, I think, we will see heading towards 2030."
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'Very special' Malinin is almost 'blasé' as he exudes 'such confidence' - Hanretty
Video credit: TNT Sports
A mistake from Yuma Kagiyama in an attempt at the triple axle in the last performance of the evening likely cost him a place above Malinin, as the Japanese star placed second with a score of 103.07.
Former two-time European champion Adam Siao delivered a statement score of 102.55 - his best ever - to earn third spot and make his presence felt.
"The men's event in the sport of figure skating is notoriously the most vulnerableand unpredictable, but I'm not wholly surprised by the end result," Hanretty added.
"Any vulnerability that Ilia Malinin showed in the team event disappeared. He came out dominant. He looked, perhaps a little reserved, maybe that's on the back of the lesser performances in the team event.
"What he does, and what he delivers...the base value of that element is just so much higher than all the others and higher certainly than the silver and bronze medal positions after the short program.
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"He gives himself a huge buffer against the others. He had to go clean to do so, and he's given himself a pretty healthy margin. The chances of Olympic gold are very, very much lying with the heavy, heavy favourite."
The skater who succeeded Siao as European champion, Nika Egadze, was not able to produce the same level of performance he did to claim the title in Sheffield, but did enough with a total of 85.11.
Earlier, Maxim Naumov made an emotional Olympic debut and qualified for the free skate with a season-best score of 85.65, before paying an emotional tribute to his late parents.
Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
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