If you only watch one Olympic performance by Ilia Malinin it should be this one ...Middle East

Ilia Malinin‘s plans for his free skate performance could make Olympic history if he attempts all of his elements — and the world will be watching to see if he does.

Friday’s skate will be Malinin’s gold medal shot, his grand finale of sorts for the Winter Olympics, and he’s expected to lay it all on the line.

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WATCH LIVE: Men’s figure skating free skate

The 21-year-old American phenom, who has faced a noticeable amount of pressure during the Games, has admitted he hasn’t skated like himself so far, despite his stunning performances.

“It’s felt different from any competition I’ve done,” he said, adding that “it really overwhelms you.”

Both of his skates in the team event were mediocre by only his lofty standards. But he felt much more comfortable during his short program, and it was reflected on the ice, where his score of 108.16 was less than a point off his world-leading mark this season.

Still, 1984 Olympic champion and host Scott Hamilton said the change in Malinin’s skating so far, though incredibly subtle, hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“I am so glad he’s honest about [his emotions] because you could just sense things were different,” Hamilton said, saying Malinin looked “tight” in his short program performance Tuesday.

While Malinin already set the standard for the men’s individual competition, he still has more to give.

And Friday’s skate could be the day he shows it.

Will he finally break out his toughest, highest-scoring jump, the quadruple axel? If he does, he’d be the first to do it at the Olympics.

The plan Malinin has submitted for Friday night includes it — naturally — in part of what would be a record-tying seven quads in all.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he will attempt it, however.

Malinin, who will skate last in the event, has teased fans throughout the competition by submitting program plans that have the jump in them. Yet through two programs in the gold medal-winning team event and his individual short program Tuesday night, the “Quad God” has yet to attempt it.

Besides the inherent risk, the rest of Malinin’s programs are so difficult he doesn’t really need it. Kagiyama has a mere four quads planned for his free skate Friday night. So does Siao Him Fa.

“I want him to be a smart competitor,” said Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion. “I know how much it can mean to a skater to have a clean performance in the Olympics, and I really want him to have a clean performance. Yes, technical — as technical as he wants to be. But if one of the quads he aspires to hit, he isn’t feeling great that day, I want him to be solid.”

Still, Malinin has a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Siao Him Fa going into the free skate, a margin so big that it seems almost insurmountable, and one that gives him some wiggle room should he attempt the quad axel and fail.

Could he be saving it for his grand finale?

“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it,” Malinin said. “But of course I always prioritize health and safety. So I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it.

If he does, it would almost certainly guarantee him gold.

Whereas the triple axel has a base value of 8.0 points, the quad has a base of 12.5. Throw in the additional points Malinin could earn for the degree of execution and the quad axel gives him a massive scoring advantage.

What makes the quad axel so difficult is that the axel is the only one of figure skating’s six primary jumps that starts facing forward, giving it an extra half revolution. In fact, the jump is so difficult even elite skaters struggle with the triple version of it.

“I never thought I’d see anybody do a quadruple axel,” Hamilton said. “Not in my lifetime.”

Indeed, most people thought it was impossible.

Then Malinin proved it wasn’t.

In September 2022, during the off-the-radar U.S. International Figure Skating Classic, he stunned the sport by setting down a near-perfect version of the quad axel as part of his winning free skate. Malinin was just 17 at the time.

At last year’s world championships in Boston, he landed it again along with each of his other five quad jumps, propelling him to his second straight title with the second-largest margin of victory in its 130-year history.

How does he do it? By spinning at about 340 revolutions per minute, or about as fast as a ceiling fan set to high.

“Seeing what Ilia has done in the last three years has been mind-boggling,” 1994 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi said. “I know several of us — Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton — we’ve talked, saying, ‘We have never imagined we would be alive to see a quad axel performed and landed in competition,’ and here comes Ilia, just whipping it off like it’s nothing.’”

How to watch

The men’s free skate begins at 12 p.m. CT.

Live coverage of the event begins at 11:45 a.m. CT on USA and the second half will air starting at 2 p.m. CT on NBC.

Stream the full program live below:

The skates will re-air in primetime on NBC starting at 7:30 p.m. CT.

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