Figure skating-Malinin prioritising safety over attempting historic quad Axel at Olympics

MILAN, Feb 10 : American Ilia Malinin arrived at the Milano Cortina Olympics carrying the weight of expectation that he would make history by landing the first quadruple Axel on Olympic ice. 

But the 21-year-old quad machine, the only skater to have landed the four-and-a-half-revolution jump, considered the most difficult in skating, has so far resisted the temptation.

He is choosing caution over showmanship after grabbing a lead of more than five points over his nearest rival Yuma Kagiyama heading into Friday's men's free skate.

Malinin said he would not attempt the ultra‑risky jump unless everything aligned on the day. 

"I'm hoping that I'll feel good enough to do it (on Friday)," he said. "But of course, I always prioritise health and safety, so I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I'll feel really confident to go into it and not have that as something that I'm going to risk."

Malinin did not do the quad Axel in either the short or long programmes of the team event, but his technically difficult free skate was still enough to lift the United States to gold.

On Tuesday, he landed two quad jumps plus threw in a back-flip to post 108.16 points, comfortably ahead of Japan's Kagiyama (103.07), with Adam Siao Him Fa of France third on 102.55.

While bookmakers and fans have made the two-times reigning world champion the clear favourite for gold, Malinin is quick to temper any assumptions. 

"Being the favourite is one thing, but actually getting it done and doing it under pressure is another," he said. "I don't want to get too ahead of myself and say it's guaranteed I'm getting that gold medal. 

"I still have to put in that work for that long programme, so I'm not going to take that for granted."

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Malinin