Figure skating history was made at an international competition in Lake Placid.
For the first time, a skater has landed on a four-axis axle in competition.
17-year-old Ilya Malinin from Virginia captivated the scattered crowd in the plaza.
Ilya Malinin made history when he completed a four-axle in a competition in upstate New York.
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do on ice. Elijah is a miracle!” former Olympic skater Adam Rippon wrote on Twitter.
The four-axle includes a long jump forward four and a half laps in the air.
Of the different ice skating jumps, it was only the pivot that male skaters had never been able to do before to do a quad version of it.
– I felt really relieved. When I practice it it’s very easy for me to figure out how to set the correct timing and everything to make it a good try. Doing this in competition is another thing because there are nerves and pressure that can get in the way. So I have to have the attitude like I’m at home. I’ve had an idea to try it out for a while now. Ilya Malinin told The Washington Post that March or April was when I really started working with technology and trying to improve it.
Missed the Olympics
The 17-year-old from Vienna, Virginia is the junior world champion and has captivated speed skating enthusiasts by making several seemingly easy jumps.
After the disappointment of sixth place in the short program, the performance on the free program saw him win an overall in his first event of the season.
Ilya Malinin isn’t the first snowboarder to try the trick in competition.
The most famous attempt in the past was Yuzuru Hanyu at the Beijing Olympics in February, but the legendary Japanese stumbled after not spinning the jump properly.
king of hope
Ilya Malinin is widely regarded as America’s next great male figure skater.
He regularly posts attention-grabbing videos on Instagram where he does some of his toughest snowboarding jumps.
Axel is considered the most difficult jump and is called the king of jumps because the skaters make more half turns in the air.
It is the only leap to be made into the future and the name comes from the Norwegian Axel Poulsen who introduced it in 1882.