Ilia Malinin | Page 24 | Golden Skate

Ilia Malinin

There was a lot to like about Ilia's overall performance at this competition. First of all, for the FS, it's pretty rough to follow someone who skates well, let alone someone whose home crowd is going bananas! Ilia still managed to stay calm and focused. He took his time and didn't start rushing, as is so easy to do. These Shae Lynn programs are pushing him to be more expressive, and he seems committed to them. What can one say about the technical?! That 4Lz is amazing!

One thing, in the SP, was he motioning to the crowd to get loud? You know, the gesture they do? I seem to recall him doing that at Skate America and I think he did it here too. If so, he needs to stop that, because I think he fell right after that. I'd have to watch it again. He needs to stay totally focused and in his music, and that seems like it would be a distraction. He managed to keep the fall from being a big, disruptive distraction, but still!

It's shaping up to be an interesting season! Now he has around a month to prepare for the GPF. I'm sure he'll build on things he learned at this competition.
 
Arriba627 said:
One thing, in the SP, was he motioning to the crowd to get loud? You know, the gesture they do? I seem to recall him doing that at Skate America and I think he did it here too. If so, he needs to stop that, because I think he fell right after that. I'd have to watch it again. He needs to stay totally focused and in his music, and that seems like it would be a distraction. He managed to keep the fall from being a big, disruptive distraction, but still!
Click to expand...

Yep, he did. I like that Ilia is performing to the crowd, but the pump-up arms don't fit well with the overall Malaguena choreography and it definitely distracted him. This is where his inexperience shines through. He lost the competition with that fall. But I think he can learn from it and move on. He seems like a fast learner in general.
 
Definitely inexperience showing. I think he gets into this light hearted moment where he's having fun, and it is distracting. He could afford that at Skate America, but not here. Any motions like that suggest that you are not "in" your music. I heard a judge on a podcast once saying there was a pairs lady who while up in a lift pumped her fist. His take on it was that it was a BAD thing because it showed she wasn't in her music.

Bottom line though, he's in the GPF which is still something to celebrate!
 
If it was more of what Nam Nguyen did in his Beatles program: stop, turn around, look at the audience, pump up, and then continue to skate, that would've been easier. But for Ilia to be skating really into the performance, pump up the crowd, and then go into a quick turn is just more likely for him to make a mistake, as he did falling here. Like @cailuj365 said, it is a learning experience. It's something for him to be more aware of. It was one competition, so it's probably not soemthing big, but it was costly in the end result.
 
The good news is that once the GPF happens, the rankings from standings won't matter (Except maybe the starting order) and lessons would be put to the test here and the grade will be the score. Comparing Ilia to how he did last year during the GP series, it's a massive improvement. Last year, he had bigger mistakes and he's gotten better at some control of that. He seems more focused. Sure okay, that fall in the StSq in the SP was a bit of a freak fall, but that doesn't mean the same mistake will happen in later competitions. With the GPF in a month from now, he has time to maybe incorporate some newer elements (If confident he can perform them cleanly by then) into the FP and focus on such. Getting 2 300+ scores in the GP series is a terrific accomplishment.
 
There are videos USFSA posted on their YouTube of some of the US competitors from Skate America this year called "Behind the Lens." Here are the links of those videos of Ilia's SP and FP (Note: Not the full-length programs).

www.youtube.com

Behind The Lens - Ilia Malinin 2023 Skate America SP

Take a behind the lens look at Ilia Malinin's record breaking short program at 2023 Skate America!#usfigureskating #figureskating #iliamalinin #teamusa #olym...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

www.youtube.com

Behind The Lens - Ilia Malinin 2023 Skate America FS

Take a behind the lens look at Ilia Malinin's free skate at 2023 Skate America that secured him the gold medal!#usfigureskating #figureskating #iliamalinin #...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
So I went out to lunch today with a friend of mine from high school. I was talking about skating and Ilia Malinin and she mentioned she heard on the radio while driving about the show and said something like "Called the quad...ummm" and I said "Quad god, yup. That's his nickname." So she heard about the show that's happening. Still bummed I can't go.
 
I'm just reflective of how much Ilia has matured in the past year and I know/hope he will continue to evolve. Pumping up the crowd, calling himself the Quad God, etc. is just sort of an immature thing to do IMO. But the truth of it is - he backs it up!!! His quads are some of the most beautiful and tightly rotated I've seen. He just isn't fully baked yet. He'll get there and by the 2026 Olympics he's going to be spectacular.
 
noskates said:
I'm just reflective of how much Ilia has matured in the past year and I know/hope he will continue to evolve. Pumping up the crowd, calling himself the Quad God, etc. is just sort of an immature thing to do IMO. But the truth of it is - he backs it up!!! His quads are some of the most beautiful and tightly rotated I've seen. He just isn't fully baked yet. He'll get there and by the 2026 Olympics he's going to be spectacular.
Click to expand...
And I have an epic idea (Maybe epic is a strong word) for a song for a FP for the Olympics.
 
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