Ilia Malinin rises to pressure of Team USA's golden hopes

MILAN, Italy -- Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice knowing figure skating's Olympic team event hinged on him - and then delivered just enough to haul the United States past Japan and onto the top step of the podium at the Milano Cortina Games.

Italy, feeding off a roaring home crowd, claimed a hard-earned bronze.

The U.S. and Japan were deadlocked heading into the men's free skate on Sunday night, leaving the 21-year-old double world champion shouldering the Americans' golden hopes.

A day earlier, he had stumbled to a surprise second place in the short program.

"Being a tie, I was like, okay, I'm the deciding factor," Malinin said. "I need to just do what I need to do, go out there, but also test the ice again, just to see how it feels, to really prepare myself for my individual event," he said.

"But it really came down to the energy, the support, the passion for my whole team. Without them, I don't think we would have gotten this medal."

As the first skater ever to land seven quadruple jumps in a program, many at the Milano Ice Skating Arena anticipated a repeat performance on Sunday.

Instead, the self-named "Quad God" looked unusually mortal.

He landed four of his seven planned quad jumps cleanly. He turned two -- including the quadruple Axel, a jump only he has ever landed in competition -- into triples, and bobbled the landing on another in a program that looked, for a moment, as though it might unravel.

His 200.03 points were nearly 40 off his best, yet still untouchable for Japan's Shun Sato, who scored 194.86.

His unique free program had the crowd roaring. Entitled "A Voice," it features his own voice playing over the soundtrack, with philosophical lines such as "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing" and "Embrace the storm."

Fitting, considering Malinin, who has appeared so carefree throughout his meteoric career, said he underestimated the enormity of the Olympic stage.

"I didn't really understand the impact of the Olympic environment," he said. "I was kind of more in shock of really just being at the Olympics for the first time.

"So I really just told myself, okay, now you've experienced it for the very first time. So, now the long program, you can come in with a different mindset, a different energy."

Malinin was also thrilled by the presence of tennis great Novak Djokovic, who leapt to his feet when the American unleashed his trademark backflip, an element that receives no marks but delights the fans.

"I did see Djokovic there, and it was, honestly, just so unreal," Malinin said, with a wide grin. "I've heard from everyone that after I landed my back flip, he (was) standing there with his hands on his head.

"Like oh, my God. That's incredible. That's like a once-in-a-lifetime moment just seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance."

The young skater has little time to rest, with the short program of the individual event on Tuesday, followed by the free skate on Friday.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media