Has Ilia Malinin improved his artistry?

[TontoK]

I am really confused about some posts saying that skaters skated programs that were true to themselves as if these fans were long time friends or family members of these athletes.

You might not have lived a full experience to the extent you can pick out a faker easily.

With age, this ability comes more naturally. For example, on this board, when someone consistently throws little digs at skaters who threaten his own favorites, particularly favorites from his own country, it makes it easier. Even more so when every effort is made to prop up their own countrymen when it's obvious there's little real merit in doing so. That person fronts as a skating fan, but they're really a skating nationalist.

 

[4everchan]

You might not have lived a full experience to the extent you can pick out a faker easily.

With age, this ability comes more naturally. For example, on this board, when someone consistently throws little digs at skaters who threaten his own favorites, particularly favorites from his own country, it makes it easier. Even more so when every effort is made to prop up their own countrymen when it's obvious there's little real merit in doing so. That person fronts as a skating fan, but they're really a skating nationalist.

I think one can say that ilia isn't great on his blades whether or not they have a in the race. For the records, I personally haven't had a skater in men's skating for which I'm a devoted fan qsince almost a decade.

I also don't think one can assume much about anyone here based on them expressing thoughts about figure skating.

 

[Blades of Passion]

The way this thread was written is unhelpful, because improved since WHEN exactly? Nearly every skater in existence shows some kind of improvement after their very first senior season.

In Ilia's case, there's not been a meaningful improvement since 2024.

Very few current skaters ever majorly improve their artistry, because it's not what the scoring system and judges are rewarding. In the past, you won the competition if landed your jumps and won the audience. Now, you win if you do the most amount of tech, in a way that specifically satisfies the suffocating requirements. Skaters these days are generally not thinking about and feeling "what movements should I do to interpret the music", they are thinking about "I need to hold these exact pre-decided spin positions for long enough to get credit, I need to do X amount of turns and extraneous movements in a very specific way to get footwork/skating skill credit, I need to place and approach my jumps in a way that satisfies the most technical bullet points on paper."

 

[TontoK]

I also don't think one can assume much about anyone here based on them expressing thoughts about figure skating.

Oh, I think one can.

 

[Arigato]

Why assume anyone who skates automatically has "artistry"? It's been a pet peeve of mine for many years. Now, if you want to ask if I think Ilia's skating skills have improved, well, they certainly better have by now or something is wrong.

 

[Mirunna]

I find his skating passionate and authentic in the sense that he conveys the joy of skating to me. From this perspective he is much more watchable than many other skaters who are better in terms of SS/movements/choreography.I know this is subjective. I like that he is young and bold. He reminds me a bit of young Max Verstappen (for who also watched Formula 1). A prodigy, a phenomenon, compared to Ayrton Senna, he was ruthless and bold as a youngster (Ilia is a media angel in comparison) but he was and still is an absolut blast to watch racing. He is now matured, a very likable guy (most rookies on track praise him), much less impulsive, but still completely unhinged and couldn't care less about media liking him. His interviews still crack me up a lot. Still a ruthless driver, his passion is racing and it completely shows. My point is that some (few) are born with the star quality written all over them and Ilia has it. His LP this season works for me, when skated clean (like GPF) works because he has the energy and attitude to make it work. I love his gala as well. I am curious where he will be in 4 years.