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Good morning! Win your photo finish today. Inside:
Phenoms: Trying to contextualize a 21-year-old GOAT
A month ago, we wrote breathlessly about Ilia Malinin, the “Quad God,” the young figure skating star soaking up headlines before even arriving in Italy for the Winter Olympics. He entered the Games with swagger, both on a personal level — just watch him skate — and a professional level, even at just 21 — he’s the only skater ever to land a quad axel in competition, thus the nickname.
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Then Malinin got to Italy … and initially looked human. It’s natural, to be fair, and we see the best do it all the time. But for a moment, the mystique faded.
No more. Tuesday, Malinin found his tempo in the short program. Today, he’ll skate for a gold medal.
Before his crowning moment, I felt like we needed more context. Yes, he’s great, but is he the best of one Olympic Games, or the best of an era? I chatted with Marcus Thompson II, who’s covered Malinin in the lead-up to the Olympics and on the ground in Italy, for more:
You wrote a great story about Ilia ahead of the Games. What’s it like watching him flex like this on the biggest stage?
💬 It’s really interesting because it hasn’t been as much of a flex. This is the first time I’ve seen Malinin look vulnerable. He’s still captivating. What he can do on the ice never ceases to amaze. But at this level, the skaters are so elite, and the technique is so refined, that we’ve seen Ilia actually look beatable. You can tell he felt that magnitude of the Olympics. That’s why his short program was so important. He skated as if he was over that.
Is there an athlete comparison you can think of for the general sports fan? Are we talking Tier 1 talent or generational?
💬 It’s really twofold. I think LeBron, I think Randy Moss. That cut of athlete who is so different, it alters your imagination. That’s Ilia. He’s doing stuff that leaves figure skaters stunned. But it’s also reminiscent of Steph Curry, Ken Griffey Jr., Peyton Manning. There’s a pedigree there that makes him so much more than an athlete. You can watch Ilia and tell he was raised by figure skaters. He’s not as technically precise as some of the most elite. But you just feel like he belongs out there. It looks and feels so natural to him.
Can’t think of a better sell than that to watch Malinin today at 1 p.m. ET on USA. As an added treat, Malinin also does backflips on the ice … just for fun:
Marcus narrated a fun video on that, with some intriguing history of the maneuver.
Let’s keep moving:
Games, Cont.: Wait, there’s more
Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images
Malinin deserves plenty of spotlight, yes. But the beauty of the Olympics is how diverse and rich the stories are. A sampling of yesterday’s best:
- Team USA routed Latvia to open its men’s hockey tournament, 5-1. Canada also rolled over the Czech Republic, 5-0. Let’s hope these two meet.
- Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych filed an appeal after he was disqualified from competition. Heraskevych wore a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read our full story.
- American curler Rich Ruohonen, 54, became the oldest American to ever compete at the Winter Olympics. He participated as an alternate in Team USA’s loss to Switzerland. Still, history.
- American Chloe Kim fell shy of history while winning a silver medal in the snowboard halfpipe, though she seemed thrilled anyway. Breezy Johnson also added some bling to her week by getting engaged yesterday.
Maybe my favorite story? Four years ago in Beijing, Alessandro Hämmerle beat Éliot Grondin by a nose to win the snowboard cross gold in a photo finish. Yesterday, the same exact thing happened. In the two races combined, Grondin finished 0.05 seconds behind Hämmerle.
Whew. Onward:
News to Know
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Chambliss wins injunction
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is poised to return to the school for a sixth year of eligibility after a Mississippi judge granted him an injunction against the NCAA yesterday. Chambliss was one of the country’s best QBs while leading the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Chambliss argued he should’ve been granted a medical redshirt in 2022 at Ferris State due to chronic tonsillitis. There’s a lot going on here.
- Elsewhere in wild eligibility cases, Montana linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu — a married father of two who was part of Trevor Lawrence’s recruiting class — was granted a ninth season this week. He says it’s his final season.
More news:
- White Sox general manager Chris Getz laughed off repeatedly calling Luisangel Acuña, acquired this offseason, a switch hitter. He is not. That’s kind of bad, right?
- A day after we wrote about the Jazz’s creative (alleged) tanking, the team announced newly acquired star Jaren Jackson Jr. will miss the rest of the season to undergo surgery. More here.
- North Carolina basketball star Caleb Wilson is out indefinitely with a fractured hand. It’s a huge blow.
- LeBron James, 41, became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double last night in the Lakers’ win over the Mavericks
- New details emerged in the felony rape case against BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston. Read them here.
- Raheem Sterling has officially joined Dutch club Feyenoord after leaving Chelsea. More details here.
Watch Guide
📺 Olympics: All day
3:05 a.m. ET on NBC/USA/Peacock
Back at it. Medal events in snowboarding, cross-country skiing, biathlon, skeleton, speedskating and, of course, figure skating. Full schedule here. We’ll have more this weekend, too.
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📺 NBA: All-Star festivities
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
We’ll have an entire discussion on the NBA All-Star Game this weekend, but if you want to catch some coverage, start tonight. The celebrity game starts on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET, while the Rising Stars tournament begins at 9 p.m. on Peacock.
📺 NCAAM: Ohio at No. 24 Miami (OH)
9 p.m. ET on ESPN
If you’re looking for actual sports to watch, give a gander at the Redhawks, the last remaining undefeated Division I school in men’s basketball. Take some notes for your upcoming bracket.
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
Luke Hales / Getty Images
A must-read this morning: Matt Gelb’s extensive report on the messy divorce between the Phillies and Nick Castellanos, including some eyebrow-raising details about the “line” Castellanos crossed. Read that here.
The “Harvard of umpire schools” has closed. Katie Woo spent the last few days of its 88-year tenure at the academy with its last class. Make time for this one today. Baseball is changing.
What would MLB look like with a salary cap? Evan Drellich authored a smart analysis of the actual effects we’d see.
I really enjoyed this story on the Mat Ishbia-led Suns, whose ownership started bombastically, for better or worse. Now, Ishbia has simply made Phoenix a winner.
Every Olympic curling stone comes from one Scottish island. Matt Slater paid them a visit and came away with a fantastic story. The man who makes every stone doesn’t even play! What a tale.
Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi have NASCAR predictions that please both the hardcore and general racing fan. I was particularly interested in the new names that could come to the forefront.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: NBA trade deadline reform.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Olympics Day 6 live blog.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.