Malinin's quad Axel at Skate America

[gsk8]

Malinin takes Skate America gold with spectacular quad Axel

2022 Skate America – Men’s Recap USA’s Ilia Malinin took gold in the 2022 Skate America Men’s event with a spectacular quad Axel in Norwood, Mass., on Saturday night. Japan’s Kao […]

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Malinin, who took a fall on a quad toe in the short program (86.08), put down a new personal best (194.29) with his free skate to music from Euphoria. The 2022 World Junior Champion also took a fall on a under-rotated quad Lutz combination in the free skate, but otherwise produced four solid quad jumps, including a beautiful quad Axel which garnered many positive grades of execution (GOE). The spins were all graded a level four, and with a total score of 280.37, the 17-year-old easily bounded from fourth to first overall.

“I felt great, it was a really good skate!” noted Malinin. “I’m still in shock! I just know that I trusted my practice and it worked well. It was very important to forget what I did yesterday and just focus on the long. I was really well prepared going into the long. That gave me the confidence to try the quad Axel and I was able to pull it off. I was very happy with how I landed it. I just have to keep that same confidence with every competition I do.”



And loving this!

 

[lariko]

It was amazing! Fingers crossed I can see Malinin live later this year.

 

[Amei]

The GOE on it was a bit ridiculous, but I'm okay with it considering: I think the BV is too low based on the point difference between the other quads and their triple counterpart and he's literally the only human that's doing it.

 

[lariko]

The GOE on it was a bit ridiculous, but I'm okay with it considering: I think the BV is too low based on the point difference between the other quads and their triple counterpart and he's literally the only human that's doing it.

That’s why GoE is so high. I actually didn’t like it when they valued it slightly over 1, because like, their point of comparison where under rotated, stepped out or falls. There is literally no better way to do 4A than Malinin. And it’s visually stunning. What more do they want?

 

[Amei]

That’s why GoE is so high. I actually didn’t like it when they valued it slightly over 1, because like, their point of comparison where under rotated, stepped out or falls. There is literally no better way to do 4A than Malinin. And it’s visually stunning. What more do they want?

Well his US classic attempt while rotated and landed, he was leaning forward and it didn't have very good flow so I didn't really mind that they only gave it 1 GOE, Skate America was much better than the US classic attempt

US Classic:


Skate America:

 

[lariko]

Well his US classic attempt while rotated and landed, he was leaning forward and it didn't have very good flow so I didn't really mind that they only gave it 1 GOE, Skate America was much better than the US classic attempt

US Classic:


Skate America:

Skate Am was also really well captured. Camera work was great. They really brought it into my living room, upclose and personal.

 

[crazydreamer]

That roar from the crowd was really something -- it felt like it went on for a minute!

 

[Seven Sisters]

I actually saw both of Ilia’s quad axels live, the first one at US Classic and now the second one, here. To my amateur eye, this one had better height and I would give it higher GOE.

 

[Sjs5572]

The GOE on it was a bit ridiculous, but I'm okay with it considering: I think the BV is too low based on the point difference between the other quads and their triple counterpart and he's literally the only human that's doing it.

I disagree. It deserved at least 4s across the board. Other than the lack of a transition, it was close to perfect.

 

[Blades of Passion]

There is literally no better way to do 4A than Malinin.

Yes there is. But It's unlikely we will see a more explosive takeoff and distance across the ice, particularly because that won't be rewarded over doing the spinny-er technique into the jump.

Malinin did a good job this time though. It's an extremely difficult jump, so it's not like perfection is needed for it to still be impressive.

The GOE on it was a bit ridiculous, but I'm okay with it considering: I think the BV is too low based on the point difference between the other quads

4Axel has too low of a base value if considering the objective peak difficulty of the jump, when executed with a real lift into the air before rotating, and as if being shot out of a canon across the ice, and still opening up in the air before landing.

Since nobody is trying to do the jump like that, I'm perfectly fine with its current base value. I don't think Malinin's 4A here is superior to the best 4Lz's we've seen; he would definitely fall if trying to do a 4Lutz like Boyang Jin was doing it in 2016, or like Mikhail Kolyada was doing in 2017, so the GOE for this element does need to be kept under control.

 

[Seven Sisters]

That roar from the crowd was really something -- it felt like it went on for a minute!

What was interesting to me is that part of the reaction was sort of delayed, as if people did not realize what they had just seen and once it sunk in and/or the person next to them said hey, that was a quad axel, there was sort of a “second wave” of cheering

The other thing I will mention that before the men’s SP started, Ilia was up on the concourse signing autographs. I thought to myself, hey Ilia, shouldn’t you be off somewhere doing, I don’t know, some stretching or something, being as you are going to be skating in a few minutes?

Ah, youth!!!

 

[lariko]

What was interesting to me is that part of the reaction was sort of delayed, as if people did not realize what they had just seen and once it sunk in and/or the person next to them said hey, that was a quad axel, there was sort of a “second wave” of cheering

The other thing I will mention that before the men’s SP started, Ilia was up on the concourse signing autographs. I thought to myself, hey Ilia, shouldn’t you be off somewhere doing, I don’t know, some stretching or something, being as you are going to be skating in a few minutes?

Ah, youth!!!

Maybe that’s how he calms his nerves, which is probably more important for him at that age.

 

[YuBluByMe]

That roar from the crowd was really something -- it felt like it went on for a minute!

The crowd reaction just made it all the more sweeter. They didn’t stop screaming until he was setting up for the 4T. He missed such a moment last month so I’m glad he had that here.

It was an amazing jump (the height!, the air position!) with a swish! landing. Funny thing is the 4A almost gets overshadowed by the second-half combos. That 4Lz+1Eu+3S is risky as all get-out. Unless he moves that to earlier in the program, he has to land it every time or he’s risking a +REP, which would probably cost him a medal in a stiffer competition. Then the 3Lz+3A is him just showing off. He’s already completed an axel jump and he literally can just do 3Lz+3T, which would obviously be much easier and he also has a 3Lz+3Lo. But why do what everyone else is doing when you can do more??? He has an exciting layout that will keep the audience wondering until the end.

 

[FaustinaF]

He was just incredibly AMAZING!!! I mean, to see that superhuman jump and that peerless height form the ice!! It was the highest level of ice figure skating performance demostrated so far despite the fall!!! He was wonderful, and I can't remember any other skater who landed so clearly 3Lutz-3Axel combination!! And, even if he said he wants to improve the choreography, he has been brilliant!! Form 1 to 10 I give him 11 In my opinion, with this free program at the Grand Prix event he has revolutionized figure skating FOREVER!! Excellent, Ilia!! Bravissimo!!!

 

[lariko]

The crowd reaction just made it all the more sweeter. They didn’t stop screaming until he was setting up for the 4T. He missed such a moment last month so I’m glad he had that here.

It was an amazing jump (the height!, the air position!) with a swish! landing. Funny thing is the 4A almost gets overshadowed by the second-half combos. That 4Lz+1Eu+3S is risky as all get-out. Unless he moves that to earlier in the program, he has to land it every time or he’s risking a +REP, which would probably cost him a medal in a stiffer competition. Then the 3Lz+3A is him just showing off. He’s already completed an axel jump and he literally can just do 3Lz+3T, which would obviously be much easier and he also has a 3Lz+3Lo. But why do what everyone else is doing when you can do more??? He has an exciting layout that will keep the audience wondering until the end.

Yeah, that 3Lz+3A on the end was just such a kicker.

 

[alyssamarie]

He also attempted one in the gala!

 

[YuBluByMe]

Heh, hold up. I’m just now noticing something about the article in the opening post.

Ilia Malinin “kills it” with probably the best quad axel we’ve ever seen.

Probably, my butt! That 4A was better than the one he landed last month so that makes this the best 4A we’ve ever seen. Unless, of course, there are other 4As besides those two that were landed in international competition?

 

[Amei]

The crowd reaction just made it all the more sweeter. They didn’t stop screaming until he was setting up for the 4T. He missed such a moment last month so I’m glad he had that here.

It was an amazing jump (the height!, the air position!) with a swish! landing. Funny thing is the 4A almost gets overshadowed by the second-half combos. That 4Lz+1Eu+3S is risky as all get-out. Unless he moves that to earlier in the program, he has to land it every time or he’s risking a +REP, which would probably cost him a medal in a stiffer competition. Then the 3Lz+3A is him just showing off. He’s already completed an axel jump and he literally can just do 3Lz+3T, which would obviously be much easier and he also has a 3Lz+3Lo. But why do what everyone else is doing when you can do more??? He has an exciting layout that will keep the audience wondering until the end.

His layout in general is what its going to need to be for the big competitions though, below are some samples of BV between this year and last year. Yes Vincent and Nathan aren't competing this year but I pulled those as examples of what we've seen the top men doing.

• Ilia's BV - 99.39 points
• Vincent 2021 Skate America FS BV: 97.50 points
• Nathan's BV at the Olympics was 94.34 points
• Shoma's FS BV is over 86 points with 1 of his combinations being a single flip - I doubt that's the intended jump and I couldn't find an instance where he didn't single it last year ( so maybe he does intend to single it? That seems like a pop though).
• Kao's this weekend was 89 points
• Daniel Grassl's is in the high 80s, this weekend it was only 85 but last season it was almost 90

 

[Blades of Passion]

Ilia can boost up his base value much higher still, I'd like to see that back-end 4Loop combo from practice show up in competition (or even if it just ends up being a 3Loop, that's still a higher BV than what he's doing now with the unnecessary half-loop combo). Doing multiple back-end axels is a big thing now too with the rule update:

4Axel
4Lutz+3Toe
3Lutz+4Loop
4Sal
4Lutz
4Toe
3Axel+3Axel+2Axel

 

[YuBluByMe]

His layout in general is what its going to need to be for the big competitions though, below are some samples of BV between this year and last year. Yes Vincent and Nathan aren't competing this year but I pulled those as examples of what we've seen the top men doing.

• Ilia's BV - 99.39 points
• Vincent 2021 Skate America FS BV: 97.50 points
• Nathan's BV at the Olympics was 94.34 points
• Shoma's FS BV is over 86 points with 1 of his combinations being a single flip - I doubt that's the intended jump and I couldn't find an instance where he didn't single it last year ( so maybe he does intend to single it? That seems like a pop though).
• Kao's this weekend was 89 points
• Daniel Grassl's is in the high 80s, this weekend it was only 85 but last season it was almost 90

His Junior Worlds layout was 88.79 so he actually doesn’t need to do all that, which was my point. His layout is risky and cheeky in the best way, which adds to the excitement.

Additionally, TES is more important than BV. If doesn’t matter how high the BV is, if it’s unlikely you’ll hit it and get 100+ TES. Ilia hit 100+ TES with last year’s layout and Grassl is going to struggle hitting that number because of his low GOES. Uno is much more of a threat, but speaking very honestly, he shouldn’t be. Not on the technical end. I can’t remember if there was a time he hit all three combos in his free last season and the 1F “combo” is actually him stumbling out of his 3A every.single.time and pretending it’s an Euler. That’s why he only manages to squeak out a single. He’s going to have to clean up the sloppiness in his free skates or one day the technical panel is going to have a field day. In reality, the biggest TES threat is actually Miura because he’s not at the mercy of a technical panel. His jumps are gorgeous so his BV is actually relevant.