Ilia Malinin is an American competitive figure skater. He is the 2024 World champion, 2023–24 Grand Prix Final champion, 2023 World bronze medalist, the 2022-23 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a six-time Grand Prix medalist, a three-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, the 2023 and 2024 U.S. national champion, and the 2022 U.S. national silver medalist. At the junior level, Malinin is the 2022 World Junior champion, and a two-time Junior Grand Prix gold medalist. He holds the current world junior record for the men's short program, free skate, and combined score, along with the world senior record for the men's free skate.

Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance; the four individual disciplines are also combined into a team event, which was first included in the Winter Olympics in 2014. The non-Olympic disciplines include synchronized skating, Theater on Ice, and four skating. From intermediate through senior-level competition, skaters generally perform two programs, which, depending on the discipline, may include spins, jumps, moves in the field, lifts, throw jumps, death spirals, and other elements or moves.