'Think About the Greastest Moments in Sports History. This was One of Them': A Teenager Did the Impossible and a 40-Year-Old Became a Champion at Worlds This Weekend
For the better part of my adult life I've been making the point that the best span of the sports calendar is the last half of March and the first half of April. That four-five week period is an all-you-can eat buffet of entertainment, featuring Michelin star cuisine. And our plate is always full. There's March Madness. The NHL and NBA playoff chase starts to take shape. You've got MLB Opening Days. The Players Championship. The Masters. The Boston Marathon. NFL Draft preparation. And soaring above all the rest the way an eagle soars above a common housefly, we get treated to the World Figure Skating Championships.
And whatever happens in the other sports, we know one thing for sure. It will not hold a flickering candle to the pure athleticism and emotional human drama that was on display in Montreal this past weekend.
The quote in that headline comes from Johnny Weir, who uttered these words as he, Tara Lipinski, and the world sat awestruck having just witnessed 19 year old American Ilia Malinin's unparalleled Free Skate to the music of Succession. A performance for the ages so impressive it would've even moved Logan Roy himself to silent, speechless tears. (Johnny and Tara's comments begin at the 6:10 mark):
Just to put this superhuman feat in perspective:
NBC Sports - Let the skating apotheosis of Ilia Malinin begin.
And why not? In four minutes Saturday night, the 19-year-old Virginian took his sport to athletic heights it had never seen before and took himself from third after the short program to the top of the awards podium at the world championships.
His free skate got the highest score in history. He landed an unprecedented six clean quadruple jumps, including his trademark quad Axel and two quads that opened combinations well into the second half of his program.
The crowd stood and roared when he landed his final jumping pass with about 20 seconds to go. The noise got louder and louder until it ended.
“It was amazing to hear the crowd go wild,” Malinin said. …
For the record, this is what Malinin was capable of: quad Axel, quad Lutz, quad loop, quad Salchow, quad lutz-half loop-triple Salchow, quad toe loop-triple toe loop, triple lutz-triple Axel sequence. That plus excellent component marks (averaging 9.07) added up to a free skate score of 227.79, topping the record of 224.92 Nathan Chen had set in 2019.
It cannot be stated enough that Malinin is just 19 years of age. It'll take two more birthdays before he's able to walk into a club or buy a drink. Just three birthdays ago, he couldn't get into an NC-17 movie without an adult. And here, on the world stage, he nevertheless was able to skate circles around the very best seasoned veterans from around the globe. More importantly, to do what no one has ever done before. To do what seemed physically impossible until we saw it with our own eyes. From the physics-defying quad Axel he opened with, to the triple lutz-triple Axel sequence he pulled off almost at the end of the program, when he should've been at the point of total exhaustion. This young man did nothing less than change everything we thought we knew about human physiology and what our bodies are capable of.
And in doing so, he took his place among the all time greatest young athletes the world has ever known. The names of the true phenoms whose names became household words before they reached the age of 21. Wayne Gretzky. Mike Tyson. Tiger Woods. Jennifer Capriati. Lebron James. Venus Williams. Bob Feller. Pele. Kevin Garnett. And now that list must not only include Ilia Malinin; it must begin with him.
And would he was the only one in Montreal to defy age and become a champion, it would be enough. But no. Another competitor made history in the opposite direction. By becoming the oldest champion in the history of Worlds. And were it any other year, pairs gold medal winner Deanna Stellato-Dudek would be the story on everyone's lips. Certainly on mine. But I cannot let Malinin's sublime perfection eclipse what she accomplished:
Her amazing story:
Woman's Agenda - Deanna Stellato-Dudek retired from the sport of figure skating at the age of 17, 24 years ago after winning a world junior silver medal.
But in proving that we are always learning and evolving, she became an aesthetician, got married and then attended a work retreat where she was asked to answer what she would do in her life if she knew she couldn’t fail at all. By then, in her thirties, she returned to the rink in 2016 to give pairs skating a go.
Now, at 40, she’s a world champion and the oldest female skater in history to win a world title in figure skating. …
Speaking after the event, she said she’s perfectly fine with carrying the title of “oldest”.
“I carry it with pride, and I’m very proud of it,” she said. “I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer.”
Further asked about her age, Stellato-Dudek laughed that “forty is the new twenty”.
Hear, hear! Deanna should be "perfectly fine" with the title of oldest. Because what could be more impressive than that? As someone who, like her, competes every day against colleagues and rivals alike who are often half my age, I say she has every reason to "carry it with pride." She skated her way into a young woman's world and proved that age is just a number. She made them bend a tights-clad knee to their newest, oldest queen. Forced them all to step aside and clear the top step on the medal stand for her golden skates, and struck a blow for all MILFkind.
The best part is that she had to walk away from the sport she loved as a teenager due to chronic injuries to her ankles and hips. And once she got her shot again, has made the most of it. It's impossible to not compare her to Roy Hobbs in The Natural. As Pop Fisher tells him the first time he walked into the ballpark, "Guys your age don't start playing ball, they retire." Only to later tell him he's the best player he's ever coached. "And the best damn hitter I ever saw." This weekend, in front of a hometown crowd in her native Montreal, Deanna Stellato-Dudek launched one into the light tower.
And in the same way Malinin etched his name into the history books as one of the great young competitors of all time, she has forever carved hers into the annals of the great older athletes. Permanently. Tom Brady. Gordie Howe. Nolan Ryan. Jack Nicklaus. Randy Johnson. Ted Williams. Jaromir Jagr. And now Deanna Stellato-Dudek.
One last note about the incredible weekend of events at the Belle Center. It should not be lost on anyone that among all the age-defying history made that America's best Ice Dance couple once again did their country proud:
Skating to a Pink Floyd medley that opened with "Time" from Dark Side of the Moon, Madison Chock was resplendent in a dress inspired by the watches from Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory." And she an her partner/husband Evan Bates danced their way into the history books as well:
NBC Sports - Madison Chock and Evan Bates repeated as world champions in ice dance to complete their first undefeated season in their 13th year together. …
Chock and Bates’ five career world championships medals are a U.S. ice dance record.
Last year, they won their first world title — after three previous silver or bronze medals — and became the oldest couple to take gold.
So yeah, all in all, not a bad event. It's not every weekend you get to watch history come to life before your incredulous eyes. I'm sure all the other sportsball things happening over the next month or so will be swell. I hope you all enjoy whatever it is you care about. But my heart is already full to bursting. And speaking personally, I can't take any more.