Are you speechless watching US figure skater Ilia Malinin on the ice? Science explains how it’s possible the Quad God can do more than four full rotations in the air.

From Terry Kubicka and Surya Bonaly to Ilia Malinin, the banned figure skating backflip is finally back on Olympic ice — and is still stirring controversy.

Figure Skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics Has Begun. How to Watch Every Spin, Jump and Fall

Times Union multimedia producer and figure skater Jessica Marshall breaks down the scoring system for those tuning into the Olympic figure skating competition in Milano Cortina.

The Sporting News gives you a full explanation of Olympic figure skating and its storied past.

The ice dance competition began Monday at the Winter Olympics with the rhythm dance. Madison Chock and Evan Bates finished in second place.

MILAN — Ilia Malinin silenced any doubters of the self-styled “Quad God” on Tuesday night, when the American wunderkind threw down a near-perfect short program filled with high-flying jumps and a jaw-dropping backflip to take a big lead at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

For at least a decade, the quadruple axel jump was figure skating’s white whale. “It’s been this unreachable thing, like the four-minute mile” once was, says Matthew Lind, a technical specialist for U.