Breaking New Ice for Figure Skating and Wichita

Ilia Malinin is transforming the sport of figure skating. The 20-year-old skater enters 2025 as the current World Champion in the sport, and a fan favorite for completing never-before-seen skills. 

“I think it kind of has to do with being a daredevil — I really like to challenge myself and push my own limits to see where I can take it,” Malinin said. “It’s also good to push where the sport can go, because I think doing these things can up the viewership and popularity of figure skating, and that’s what my goal is.” 

Malinin will perform at Intrust Bank Arena during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the end of the month. 

Malinin became the first figure skater to successfully land a quadruple axel in competition at the age of 17. The skill requires four full spins in the air plus an extra half rotation and is widely recognized as the hardest jump in the sport. At the World Championships in October, Malinin added a back flip to his program — a skill that had been banned for more than 45 years and was only reinstated last year. 

His remarkable skills and success have been noted online — with his nickname “Quadg0d,” Malinin has 196,000 followers on Instagram. Videos on YouTube from Malinin’s Grand Prix Final performance just last month show fans waving signs splashed with “Quad God” and cheering after Malinin completed his sweep of major events in 2024. 

“I’ve really noticed a lot of new viewers and people who have talked to me, and some of them have said, ‘I never knew figure skating was a thing,’ or ‘I used to watch figure skating when I was younger but now it’s become more exciting,’ and that makes me happy that I can push the sport to get new viewers, or viewers that are coming back,” Malinin said. 

Malinin earned gold in all seven events he competed in during 2024 — including U.S. National Championships, World Championships and the Grand Prix series. He has finished in the top three in every event since the 2022 World Championships, and he’s a favorite for the 2026 Olympic team. Although he’s never been to Wichita, Malinin says he’s excited to see what the city has to offer when he visits in January. 

“I’m excited to see how different it is from the rest of the country and really looking forward to being able to compete in front of a crowd and meeting up with all of my friends from Team USA,” Malinin said. 

Malinin is also excited to engage with fans through his “Quad God” merchandise that he plans on selling at the event. 

Midwestern Hospitality

Malinin is one of many top figure skaters across the country set to compete in downtown Wichita January 20–26, including Amber Glenn, who also earned gold at last month’s Grand Prix Final. Wichita won the bid for the event after hosting several U.S. Figure Skating events over the last six years, including the Midwestern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships as recently as 2024. 

“Anytime you can host an event of this magnitude where you’re going to bring in the best figure skaters in the country — a handful of them who you’ll see competing in the Olympics — it’s obviously huge for our city,” said Josh Howell, vice president of sports development at Visit Wichita. 

The 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be the first hosted in the state of Kansas. Howell says Wichita’s central location, updated airport and hospitality are a few key selling points for major national events to come to Wichita. 

“Wichita’s a much bigger city than most people think, but we also have that small town feel,” Howell said. “The local support is great, the midwestern hospitality — we’ve heard many times from people who have brought their events to Wichita how friendly everyone was and how helpful they were — it’s another reason why Wichita is a great place to host these kinds of events.” 

Wichita is also unique, in that the city has three sheets of ice less than a mile from one another — two sheets of ice at the Wichita Ice Center where the skaters will practice while they’re in town, and one sheet of ice at Intrust Bank Arena where the skaters will compete. 

“They’re so close that on a nice day you could walk between the two locations,” said Jolene Taylor, president of the Wichita Figure Skating Club. 

The locations of the Wichita Ice Center and Intrust Bank Arena will also likely keep skaters and fans traveling to Wichita for the event downtown, exploring local bars, restaurants and hotels, plus discovering nearby attractions.

“Hopefully they’ll be checking out our aviation history, walking the river, discovering the Keeper of the Plains. Even though they’re here to watch some of the best figure skaters compete, hopefully they’ll check out Wichita,” Howell said. 

“Wichita’s a much bigger city than most people think, but we also have that small town feel. The local support is great.” — Josh Howell, vice president of sports development, Visit Wichita

While the city is expecting an influx of out-of-town travelers downtown, event organizers are also hoping to draw Wichitans, and Taylor says you don’t have to be a year-round fan of the sport to enjoy the event. 

“To see the athleticism and the artistry of the sport — the two are intertwined, which you don’t always see in sport, but you do see it in figure skating, which is hard to do, but amazing when you see it done really well,” Taylor said. 

Taylor adds that watching figure skating in person is vastly different from watching it on television — live figure skating gives the viewer a better sense of the speed and magnitude of the performances. 

“To hear the sound when they land a jump and the stroking on the ice, everything about watching in person is fun,” Taylor said, recalling the first time she watched live professional skating and was enamored by the skaters whizzing past at impressive speeds. 

Young Skaters to See Role Models up Close

Attendance from local fans will also ensure events of this magnitude will return to Wichita. 

“Wichita has done a really great job of supporting these events when they come to town, and it’s like a domino effect where we start to support sporting events and they get bigger and bigger and people around the country notice this,” Howell said. 

While no local skaters are competing in the event, Taylor says skaters with the Wichita Figure Skating Club will still be heavily involved. Most of the younger skaters in the club will act as sweepers, the skaters who collect all of the flowers and plush toys thrown onto the ice after a performance. Many of the skaters age 15 and up will help with the award presentations by holding the medals alongside the ice before they are presented to the athletes. 

The Wichita Figure Skating Club skaters who are volunteering as sweepers and presenters will wear custom figure skating dresses with a nod to Wichita included. 

“[The skaters in the Wichita Figure Skating Club] are allowed to be a part of this competition in those two ways and they’ll get to see their role models up close,” Taylor said. “They’re super excited to see their role models in the sport.” 

While the sport of figure skating is growing in popularity in Wichita, both Taylor and Howell remark on the importance of the Wichita Ice Center, not only to help Wichita remain an attractive location for top figure skating events, but also as a centerpiece to the Wichita community. 

“The Wichita Ice Center exists for quality of life, and it does bring a lot to Wichita. It has allowed us to bring these big events to the city that make a lot of money for the community,” Taylor said. “That’s how the Ice Center benefits everyone — by being able to have these events, and these events support the city. The Ice Center is for everybody, skating is for everybody.” 

Find tickets and a complete event schedule online at intrustbankarena.com/skating. Passes are available for the entire week, the weekend alone, or a single session.