Just a handful of skaters have attempted a quadruple axel in competition. Malinin, a gold medal favorite at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, is the only skater who has landed one.

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.

The United States will send eight athletes to the 2026 Winter Olympics in aerials skiing, with Olympic gold medalist Chris Lillis and two-time Olympians Winter Vinecki and Kaila Kuhn leading the pack.