US Skating Star Ilia Malinin Leads After Near-Perfect Short Program at the Milan Cortina Olympics

USA's Ilia Malinin competes in the figure skating men's singles short program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10, 2026. Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

MILAN—Ilia Malinin playfully threw a couple of jabs at a TV camera while skating off the ice Tuesday night, the pressure of his first Olympics having seemingly vanished following a team gold medal and a near-perfect short program to begin the men’s competition.

The American wunderkind didn’t exactly deliver a knockout blow to the rest of the field.