“Wow, Ilya jumped a quadruple axel!” After that ? He doesn’t interest me much” – skating coach about figure skater Malinin

Sliding coach Nikita Pchelyakov, who works in the groups of Alexei Mishin and Valentina Chebotareva, explained in an interview with why the programs of the American figure skater Ilya Malinin doesn’t look complete.

Malinin, 19, is the current world champion, winner of the finals and stages of the Grand Prix. He represents the United States and is the first skater in the world to cleanly execute a quadruple axel at international tournaments.

— How would you assess Ilya Malinin’s slip? Everyone talks about his amazing jumps, but I’ve never heard an expert opinion on his skating.

– Everyone is on straight legs, they don’t roll much. It is clear that Ilya does interesting acrobatic things, difficult turns, and even not very cleanly. Besides, he has a very good program, but there is no slippage. As a result, the production loses its appearance. That is to say: “Wow, Ilya jumped a quadruple axel!” So what’s next? The emphasis is on technique and the result is a series of jumps. This doesn’t interest me much, because figure skating remains an art. Since our rules say you have to skate according to a program, then I want to see a complete program, not just jumps. There is a separate show jumping championship,” Pchelyakov said in an interview with .

In the victorious World Championships free skate, the 19-year-old landed six quadruple jumps, including a 4.5 Axel.

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