Olympic star Ilia Malinin makes unexpected confession about infamous backflip on ice

2026 Olympic Gold Medalist Ilia Malinin, who notoriously goes by “Quad God,” has left a significant mark on the ice skating industry.

The one-of-a-kind performer — who is currently on the Stars on Ice Tour — has become synonymous with his signature backflips on ice, which are simply put, jaw-dropping.

While the move may seem impossible to the average person, the athlete exclusively revealed to HELLO! that it comes as second nature for him.

He shared: “For me, it’s definitely muscle memory. That’s how I take a lot of the stuff I do on the ice. I’m really focused, really in the zone, and really just letting my muscles and everything that I’ve worked for, kind of take over.”

Mind over matter

Despite defying physics itself, the performer explained that he does so with ease thanks to the hard work he’s put in during practice.

Ilia confessed: “Yeah, I’ll be pretty honest, compared to what other things we do on the ice, [a] backflip is one of the more easier things.”

Its mind over matter for Ilia when it comes to landing the bold move.

© Getty Images

He explained: “It’s really just more a mental game. That’s how tricky it is for us. We do things so much more difficult, so much harder than the backflip, but [it’s] just that fear factor of going upside down, which skaters are not really used to doing.”

The Olympian continued: “That’s why it’s a little more scary – it might be harder for [some people] when it’s really just, you need to get over that.”

Ilia revealed that shifting his mindset took longer than learning a difficult step.

He expressed: “So for me for example, it took me a few months, then the quad axle, and in [my] mind, it’s like, ‘I’m one of the only people in the world to do it successfully.’ So, just to compare that to a backflip – it took me a year to get over the fear of actually going for it.”

© Getty Images

Mental health

Not only did Ilia deal with overcoming his personal fears, but he also had to do so on the world’s stage, therefore, he hopes everyone humanizes athletes.

He expressed: “I would say that first things first is, we’re still human. I think that’s something that people really forget. Some people kind of keep [athletes in the] back of their minds and don’t really take account into – even though we’re trained to go through, harsh environments, as you could call it, or have expectations, [and we] learn to handle the pressure and nerves, but in the end, we still feel them.”

The ice skating champion emphasized how important mental health is, regardless of one’s career or stature.

© Getty Images

Ilia added: “It’s not necessarily [that the nerves are] completely gone. We are just trying to kind of push them down and not have them out as much, but in the end, sometimes we can’t handle that.”

He continued: “So I try to remind people that we’re still human. We can relate to you as much as you can relate to us. So we’re not that different in the end. But of course we’re still out there, putting all of our hearts out into what we love so much, and we’re putting so much time, so much effort and dedication into our passion, which is figure skating.”

You can catch Ilia, Alysa Liu, Madison Chock and Evan Bates’  breathtaking performances at the Stars on Ice Tour coming to your city.