The Canadian Press/AP
Axels. Lutzes. Loops. Salchows. For figure skaters and their fans, these maneuvers are just part of the job description. Even young children can do a few twists and jumps and jumping twists. But for the rest of us mere mortals, this fancy footwork defies basic rules of nature and probably physics. How is it possible to execute any of this on ice, much less while wearing little boots with thin blades?
Add to these terms “quad,” which is a shortening of quadruple, which is to say times four. Even for professionals, as the Washington Post notes, the quadruple axel is “a leap so terrifying that most skaters won’t attempt it.” But 19-year-old American skater Ilia Malinin, managed to execute this “terrifying” leap not just once, but six times, to win the World Figure Skating Championship last night in Montreal.
“I knew that this could be the best skate of my life,” Malinin said. “Or it could go terribly wrong.”
I won’t begin to try to describe the jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, gob-smacking performance, with the haunting soundtrack to Succession as one of his music selections, that broke a scoring record for this program. Just sit back and watch as history was made.
