American figure skater Ilia Malinin came to the Winter Olympic Games saying he isn’t here only for scoring records or gold medals — he wants to change figure skating forever.
On Saturday, he completed the first part of his mission to turn Milan into his personal palace, as he became the first figure skater in history to land a backflip in Olympic competition.
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Backflips were previously illegal in figure skating competition at the Olympics, but that was changed for the Milan Games. Malinin wasted no team busting it out during his first official skate of the event in the teams competition.
Malinin is considered the heavy favorite going into the men’s event the next week, but was not the best men’s skater on the night. In what was called an upset by commentators, Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama bested Malinin in the team short program with a stronger artistic and technical performance, even without the historic backflip.
The 21-year-old, trying to become the sport’s greatest to ever lace up the skates, has also teased a possible quintuple jump at some point in the near future, which was once considered physically impossible. He might need it if he wants to oust Kagiyama following the Japanese champion’s flawless performance on Saturday.
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