Keep Your Ice on the Man Spinning

​The other day, when posting the video of Alysa Liu winning the Gold Medal for women's figure skating at the World Championships held in Boston in late May, I mentioned that the U.S. team won three of the four Gold medals given out.  The other two were for 

Ilia Malinin in the men’s competition, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates for ice dancing.

I also noted how remarkable Malinin was. And I would be remiss if I didn't post his winning freestyle skate, as well. I did way that his win was largely anticipated, since he was the defending world champion and undefeated this year.  But what he does on the ice is truly special.  

It's not just that his skate included him doing six "quad" axels.  (Which is four-and-a-half revolutions, the "half" for the landing.)  It's that he is the only skater in the world who, in competition, has done even just one!  Spinning four times at a stand-still seems amazing -- doing it just once.  But six times?  On ice?  Landing on a blade and not falling?  And ?doing all your other jumps and spins -- for four times?  That's utterly stunning.  And to top it off, he threw in a backflip for good measure.

So, for however special Alyssa Liu's skate was, winning the World Championship after retiring for 2-1/2 years, this from Ilia Malinin is it's own brand of special.