Marshall Senior Lands First Quad Axel
“HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE!” tweeted U.S. Figure Skating as Ilia Malinin, a senior at Marshall High School, successfully landed the first quadruple axel in competition. (View the tweet to see the skill.)
“We are so very proud of Ilia! This is an incredible accomplishment,” says Jeffrey Litz, principal of Marshall. “It is amazing to me how Ilia can perform at such a high level while also balancing his schoolwork and social life. He is an incredible young man.”
He completed the skill—a four-and-a-half revolution jump—in the lower-level US Classic in Lake Placid, New York.
“It felt really good. When I’m practicing it, it’s pretty easy for me to figure out how to get the right timing and everything to have it be a good attempt,” said Malinin in an AP story. “To do it in competition is a different story because you have nerves and pressure that can get in the way of that. So I have to treat it like I’m at home, and it feels pretty good.”
Malinin served as the first alternate for the Olympic Team earlier this year in Beijing.
