The Winter Olympics delivered a moment few believed we’d ever see again. Inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena, the crowd erupted when an American skater launched into a move that had been absent from legal Olympic competition for nearly half a century. What followed wasn’t just a clean landing — it was a historical breakthrough, a reminder that in the Olympics, anything can happen in an instant.
The moment belonged to Team USA’s Ilia Malinin, who stunned viewers during the men’s short program team event by successfully landing a backflip — a move once banned for being too dangerous. The daring element helped earn the 21‑year‑old a strong score of 98.00 and immediately became one of the most talked‑about feats of the Games.
Backflips had appeared in earlier Olympics, but they were penalized after being outlawed by the International Skating Union (ISU) in 1977 for safety concerns. The last skater to attempt one legally at the Olympics was American Terry Kubicka in 1976. That ban stood for decades until the ISU reinstated the backflip as a legal element in 2024, opening the door for Malinin’s show‑stopping moment.
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