Figure skaters and their families from across the D.C. region gathered today (Friday) at Reston’s SkateQuest to watch their homegrown phenom pursue gold and, possibly, history an ocean and continent away at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
In minutes, however, that vision fell apart as Vienna resident Ilia Malinin missed the Olympic podium entirely after a disastrous free skate where he fell twice, finishing in eighth place with 264.49 points.
In between classes, George Mason University students gathered at the Johnson Center in Fairfax to cheer one of their own going for the gold in the winter Olympics.
Ilia Malinin, a 21-year-old figure skater competing in the Milan Cortina Olympics, is also studying for a not-yet-declared major at GMU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The university held a watch party yesterday (Tuesday) as Malinin competed in the qualifying round of the individual men’s short program.
By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) — It seemed only fitting that Ilia Malinin was the first one to get his Olympic gold medal after the U.S. successfully defended its team title by holding off the Japanese on Sunday night in the three-day competition at the Milan Cortina Games.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy, with the opening ceremony unfolding this afternoon (Friday).
For Fairfax County viewers, eyes will be particularly fixed in the coming days on two local athletes: figure skater Ilia Malinin — a 2023 Marshall High graduate who still lives in Vienna and trains at Reston’s SkateQuest — and speedskater Brandon Kim, a 2020 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology making his Olympic debut.
By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer
It was at a relatively minor event in upstate New York in September 2022 that Ilia Malinin, the self-anointed “Quad God” who was fast becoming the biggest name in figure skating, finally landed the jump that so many people had thought impossible.
