(Photo credit: James Lang-Imagn Images)

MILAN, Italy -- When Ilia Malinin launched himself into a backflip at the Milan Cortina Olympics, it detonated through the crowd like a firecracker and even brought tennis great Novak Djokovic to his feet with his hands on his head in disbelief.

The 21-year-old double world champion landed the first legal Olympic backflip since American Terry Kubicka in 1976, when he helped clinch gold for the U.S. in the team event in Milan on Sunday.

The crowd will get another chance to see Malinin's maneuver when he takes the ice for Friday's men's free program as the favorite for gold.

The backflip was banned for safety reasons after Kubicka did one at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics.

The maneuver became known as the 'Bonaly flip' after Surya Bonaly of France famously thumbed her nose at the International Skating Union's restrictive rules at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Bonaly had sustained a groin injury the day before the free program and knew her quest for a medal was over, and so defiantly unleashed the jump with a one-footed landing.

The ISU removed the somersault ban in June 2024, saying in their meeting agenda: 'Somersault type jumps are very spectacular and nowadays it is not logical anymore to include them as illegal movements.'

AERIAL SHOWMANSHIP

Malinin, the self-named 'Quad God,' has drawn global attention for his aerial showmanship. He became the first skater to land seven quadruple jumps in a program at the Grand Prix Final in December. He is also the first to land the quadruple Axel in competition, considered the toughest jump in the sport.

The backflip carries no set point value, but it can contribute to Malinin's component score - known under the old judging system as 'artistic impression'.

It also gets a bigger roar from the crowd than his more technically demanding jumps because it plays to pure spectacle in a way quads simply cannot.

'It gets that audience applause, feels really suspenseful and I really just like doing it,' Malinin said last season when he began doing the maneuver.

His programs also include one-handed cartwheels and a 'raspberry twist,' another zero-points move in which his body, much like a break dancer's, rotates in the air horizontally to the ice.

However, the young skater has so far resisted the temptation to land the first quadruple Axel on Olympic ice, saying he is choosing caution over showmanship.

'I'm hoping that I'll feel good enough to do it (on Friday),' he told reporters on Tuesday. 'But of course, I always prioritize health and safety, so I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I'll feel really confident to go into it and not have that as something that I'm going to risk.'

Malinin takes a score of 108.16 from the short program into Friday's free skate. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama is second on 103.07, Adam Siao Him Fa of France is third (102.55).

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media