In less than three days, Ilia Malinin has seen his Instagram follower count double to 1 million.
Even though he failed to win the men’s individual figure skating gold on Friday night at the Winter Olympic Games, everyone wants to know what’s next on his journey of redemption.
Malinin has become a household name after last week’s figure skating, wowing fans with his performances in the team event and breaking hearts with his loss in the men’s individual competition.
Since his disappointment on Friday, there have been rumors that the back-to-back world champion might not even defend his title in a month in Prague, Czech Republic.
On Sunday, though, Malinin made his decision, as his agent shared the news with the media.
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The 21-year-old from Virginia will, in fact, defend his world championship in a little over a month, with the event beginning on March 23rd.
All the rivals that he clashed with in Milan should be there, in what will now be a highly anticipated tournament, to see if he can bounce back from the follies in Italy.
A year ago in Boston, Malinin blew out the competition, winning the gold medal by over 20 points in the final tallies. The runner-up, though, is far more interesting now, as it was Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov who made a surprise finish for the silver.
Going into Prague, though, the fellow 21-year-old star Shaidorov is no longer a dark horse like he was at the Olympics. He will be entering the tournament as the reigning global champion, having won the gold medal at the Olympics over Malinin and Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama.
It will be the first chance the “Quad God” has at facing his newest top rival.
Both are just coming into their primes, setting up a four-year stretch in which Shaidorov and Malinin will be jockeying for position heading into the 2030 French Alps Games.
