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Ilia Malinin accomplished what many once considered impossible when he landed a quadruple axel at a competition in Lake Placid, New York, in September 2022.

The Fairfax skater’s historic jump required an extra half-rotation because the axel begins with a forward-facing entry. Other competitors had attempted it over the years, but none had stayed on their feet.

Malinin’s successful landing inside the arena known for the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 Olympic upset of the Soviet Union reverberated far beyond figure skating.

“My mind was just blown,” two-time Olympian Jason Brown said.

The breakthrough also presented the sport with a difficult question: After an athlete conquers its most demanding jump, where can skating go next?

A possible ceiling for jumps

Figure skating’s six principal jumps have remained largely unchanged since the early 20th century. Progress has come through adding rotations.

Dick Button completed the first double axel in 1948 and landed the first triple jump four years later. Kurt Browning delivered the first quadruple jump, a toe loop, in 1988. Timothy Goebel followed with the first quad salchow a decade later.

Malinin’s quad axel may represent the outer boundary of what the human body can achieve on ice. Most sports scientists believe the speed and height required for five-rotation jumps make them impossible.

That potential limit leaves figure skating at a crossroads as it searches for innovations that can captivate audiences and help a sport already struggling to sustain its popularity.

Malinin, 20, entered the Milan Cortina Olympic season as the overwhelming favorite to win men’s gold for the United States. He does not believe his own development is finished.

“I haven’t reached my top, whether it’s in the technical and how much I can jump and spin, but also in the creativity,” he said.

Creativity brings risk, but few points

One example is Malinin’s signature “raspberry twist,” a somersaulting spin he created. The maneuver regularly thrills crowds when he performs it late in a program, yet the scoring system offers little incentive for taking that chance.

The International Skating Union imposes detailed requirements on short programs and free skates. Because the raspberry twist is not one of the six standard jumps, landing it brings relatively little scoring value. Missing it, however, could be costly.

Malinin said he has considered other visually striking elements but concluded that the risks often outweigh the potential rewards under the current system.

Reigning world champion Alysa Liu said the rules leave skaters with limited room to distinguish themselves. Spins that could look dramatically different have instead become increasingly similar, she said.

Three-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn pointed to training partner Sonja Himler, who spins and jumps in the opposite direction from most competitors. Glenn considers those programs unusually impressive, but said conventional elements performed well would generally receive better scores.

Justin Dillon, U.S. Figure Skating’s manager of high performance, said coaches sometimes must have difficult conversations with athletes about unique ideas. Individuality is encouraged, he said, but an unconventional element does not help if it fails to meet the scoring requirements.

Could artistry become the next frontier?

The sport’s governing body has relaxed some restrictions. Backflips, once prohibited because of their danger, are now allowed in competition. They still carry limited scoring value.

Glenn said the maneuver is entertaining but frightening enough that she would rather learn it after her competitive career ends.

Brown has followed another path. Although he has struggled to land quadruple jumps consistently in competition, precise triples and exceptional artistry have kept him in contention for podium finishes at major events.

He suggested that skating’s next breakthrough may not involve another extreme athletic feat. Heavy emphasis on technical elements can make competitors less willing to take artistic chances because attempting both is exceptionally difficult.

Instead of demanding another revolution in the air, Brown said, the sport could move forward by placing greater value on the stories skaters tell on the ice.