{"id":718,"date":"2026-02-25T03:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T03:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718"},"modified":"2026-02-25T03:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T03:08:19","slug":"ilia-malinin-proves-quad-god-nickname-right-with-stunning-backflips-at-the-winter-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By now you\u2019ve probably heard of Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin. The Fairfax County athlete is the reigning world champion (for the second year in a row), he\u2019s racking up Grand Prix Final titles, and he\u2019s currently competing in his first Olympic Games, where he\u2019s stunned crowds with his backflips. But one of the skater\u2019s greatest accomplishments may be the mythos he\u2019s created for himself as the \u201cQuad God.\u201d Because, yes, Malinin\u2019s nickname is actually self-anointed.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Quad God aka Ilia Malinin is in the House at the #MilanoCortina2026 \u2b50\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nWYOQZIDmxQ?feature=oembed\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"563\" data-origheight=\"1000\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3\"><\/div>\n<p>Last year the skater shared the origin story for his moniker with Washingtonian. When Malinin first got on social media, his original handle was Lutzboy, a reference to another skating move. But after landing two quad jumps in 2020, Malinin opted for a new username. Here\u2019s what he told writer Alex Prewitt:<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/923\/cpsprodpb\/eb56\/live\/bc94e6c0-0663-11f1-ad0b-39fef3bf1fc8.jpg\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin: The Quad God out to dominate Winter Olympics - BBC Sport\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Everyone kind of got angry at me, like, \u201cWhy\u2019d you name yourself Quadg0d? You only landed two quads,\u201d [Malinin] says. \u201cAnd I was like, \u201cWell, I guess now it\u2019s time for me to land the rest of them.\u201d The username was my motivation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a305e4e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4134x2755+0+0\/resize\/2000x1333!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2F29%2Ffa2fc8af48a380980218004d986f%2F1534228-sp-1217-olympics-ilian-malinin-rcg-6858.jpg\" alt=\"Why Olympic star Ilia Malinin might revolutionize figure skating - Los Angeles Times\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The strategy seems to have worked. Dubbing yourself a god certainly raises eyebrows, but one could argue the 21-year-old has the resume to back it up. He\u2019s since landed seven quads in a single routine, and he\u2019s the only skater to nail the quad axel in competition, rotating four and a half times in the air. Superhuman? Absolutely. A deity? You can be the judge of that.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ksltv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2260587701.jpg\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin's stunning free skate secures US figure skating team gold at Milan Cortina Olympics - KSLTV.com\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Malinin remains \u201cilia_quadg0d_malinin\u201d on Instagram, and the gold logo on his website reads \u201cQuadgod by Ilia Malinin,\u201d with the \u201cQG\u201d most prominent, almost as if he\u2019s transcended his own name. The nickname has even seeped into official coverage of the Olympic Games, further solidifying Malinin\u2019s self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/washingtonian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/67A4621.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Quad God&quot; Ilia Malinin performs in Leesburg in 2024. Photo by Evy Mages.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Still, it\u2019s been a tough start to the Olympics for the Quad God. He fell behind Japanese skater Yuma Kagiyama in the short program on Saturday and made a few mistakes in his free skate. Despite the errors, his performance on Sunday helped Team USA earn a gold medal. He\u2019s yet to debut the quad axel at the games, but Malinin is not done skating. He will compete in individual events on February 10 and 13, where he\u2019s likely to attempt the move on his biggest stage yet. If Malinin lands it, the Quad God title would be undeniable\u2014no matter who invented it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By now you\u2019ve probably heard of Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin. The Fairfax County athlete is the reigning world champion (for the second year in a row), he\u2019s racking up Grand Prix Final titles, and he\u2019s currently competing in his first Olympic Games, where he\u2019s stunned crowds with his backflips. But one of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By now you\u2019ve probably heard of Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin. The Fairfax County athlete is the reigning world champion (for the second year in a row), he\u2019s racking up Grand Prix Final titles, and he\u2019s currently competing in his first Olympic Games, where he\u2019s stunned crowds with his backflips. But one of the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vibes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6\"},\"headline\":\"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718\"},\"wordCount\":422,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718\",\"name\":\"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?p=718#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vibes\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vibes15.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes","og_description":"By now you\u2019ve probably heard of Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin. The Fairfax County athlete is the reigning world champion (for the second year in a row), he\u2019s racking up Grand Prix Final titles, and he\u2019s currently competing in his first Olympic Games, where he\u2019s stunned crowds with his backflips. But one of the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718","og_site_name":"Vibes","article_published_time":"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6"},"headline":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics","datePublished":"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718"},"wordCount":422,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718","url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718","name":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics - Vibes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-25T03:08:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/629980076_122220767846271936_2506590612225609911_n.jpg","width":1280,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=718#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ilia Malinin Proves \u2018Quad God\u2019 Nickname Right With Stunning Backflips at the Winter Olympics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/","name":"Vibes","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8a6e9c931eadfaf9901299c3f89840b6","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4fb3d88db30daf481acec3daf668f5fa0614da42ccc734005ffd0a3aa2b8c40f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/vibes15.com"],"url":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}