Quadg0d Malinin on new jump limits: "Hasn't really affected me."

Ilia Malinin roars with joy and relief after his winning free skate at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships.

A rules change that seemed designed in part to give figure skating mortals a better chance against the Quadg0d, Ilia Malinin, has not affected Malinin as much as he expected.

Removing a jumping pass and a jump combination from the free skate, a change approved in 2024 that went into effect this season, could cost Malinin 20 points or more.

It seemed like the Ilia Malinin rule, even if he had not achieved divine stature when it was adopted.

“I thought that the rule change was definitely going to change everything like drastically,” Malinin said during a Zoom press call Thursday, eight days before he is scheduled to make his season debut at the Skate America Grand Prix event in Everett, Wash.

“But honestly, it hasn't really changed so much. I think the programs look the same, if not even better.”

The three-time reigning world champion and four-time reigning U.S. champion said doing one fewer jumping pass allows skaters more time to “express themselves artistically.”  He is also using the time to hone “artistic abilities, you know, transitions, footwork, skating skills.”

 “So I would say honestly, (the change) hasn't really affected me. No matter what the rules are or what they decide to do, I think I'm a pretty adaptive person. So I usually am able to adjust pretty quickly.”

Malinin, 21, had utterly dominated men’s singles in the two and one-half seasons leading to the 2026 Winter Olympics.  In the process, he distinguished himself as the first to land a quadruple Axel in competition, the first to cleanly do all six types of quads and seven quads overall in a free skate program.

At the Olympics, he helped Team USA win gold in the team event but stunningly came apart in the individual event free skate, dropping from first after the short program to eighth in the final standings.

He came back a month or so later to win another world title, which was both the last event of the 2026 Olympic quadrennium and, to him, the first event of the quadrennium leading to the 2030 Winter Games.

“That day (his free skate unraveling at the Olympics) was when I realized I loved skating more than anything,” Malinin said.  “How I wanted to come back from those (Olympics) for the World Championships really showed my love for skating again. It really showed that I'm not doing the sport just because I want the medals or I need the prize money or I need the records or I need some kind of name.”