Arutyunyan’s prize pupil is one skate from Olympic gold. He arrived at this precipice because of his unprecedented talent, the pedigree bequeathed to him from his parents, both champion figure skaters who coach their eldest. But Malinin declares fearlessness as his greatest strength.

The “Quadg0d” struggled in his first Olympic skate, but his best events are still to come, and there’s no reason to panic.

NBC and U.S. Figure Skating coordinated a cross-promotion, giving fans Toothless stuffies to toss on ice when Ilia Malinin finished his short program.