The Winter Olympics judges weren’t the only ones impressed by Ilia Malinin’s routine on Sunday, as the US figure skater helped secure gold for his nation in the free-skate team event.
Malinin delivered a score of 200.03 points on the ice, putting the USA one point ahead of Japan to seal gold at the Milano Cortina Games.
And as Malinin, just 21 years old, performed his routine, one of the standout moments was a stunning backflip with which he landed on a single skate.
The two-time world champion set up the move with a short rotation, allowing him to briefly travel backwards and flip into a right-legged landing, before he rotated out of the manoeuvre.
And among the many impressed onlookers was tennis great Djokovic, who was sat rink-side in Italy.
The Serb, 38, rose out of his seat with his mouth agape, applauding the move before sitting back down with his hands on his head. The record 24-time grand-slam champion remained in the pose for some time, while his wife Jelena was similarly stunned next to him.
At the end of Malinin’s routine, the pair stood again to applaud the athlete – nicknamed the “Quad God” – who later said: “I did see Djokovic. It’s so unreal.
“I heard that, after I landed my backflip, he was like… he had his hands over his head. That’s incredible.
“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment, seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance. I’m absolutely blown away.”
Malinin’s backflip actually represented a move that was long prohibited – from 1977 until its ban was overturned in 2024. Despite this ban being overturned, the move does not gain a skater any points in a technical sense.
Djokovic was watching on just two weeks after he had a silver-medal moment, so to speak. In the men’s singles final at the Australian Open, Djokovic was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in four sets.
Djokovic was seeking an 11th Australian Open title and a 25th slam trophy overall. Victory would have put him ahead of Margaret Court as the outright most-successful tennis player in the history of the majors.
But despite winning the first set, Djokovic fell to world No 1 Alcaraz, who became the youngest man ever to complete the career grand slam.
Still, Djokovic has an actual gold medal to his name, having beaten Alcaraz in the 2024 summer Olympics final. Back in 2008, the Serb claimed Bronze in Beijing, too.
