An Ilia Malinin Story... Aspen Jones is America's biggest pop star, invited to perform at the Winter Olympics. Just another flawless moment in her carefully controlled career. Until she sees the person she tried to forget. The guy she can't get out of her head, even after 2 years of not seeing him. Ilia Malinin. Once, they were something undefined. Late nights, almost-love, and feelings neither of them dared to name. Now, he's chasing Olympic gold, and she's trapped in the pressure of perfection, but being this close again brings everything back. What starts as avoidance turns into stolen moments, lingering tension, and a connection neither of them ever really let go of. Because this time, falling for each other isn't simple. It could cost them everything.

They say that in figure skating, if you stare at your partner's blades, you'll eventually fall. You have to look at the horizon, they tell you. You have to trust that he is there without checking. "Don't fall, Kate," he whispered. "I won't if you don't," I replied. That was our first promise. Our first lie. I didn't know that thread would become a chain. I didn't know that for the next ten years, my every breath would depend on his.

Cornelia Hart is ranked number 1, the best female singles skater on her way for an Olympic gold. Trained in Virginia under Tatiana Malinin she became the Ice Queen, known for her ruthless attitude on and off the ice. Ilia Malinin is her arch rival, he is everywhere she turns, training on the same ice, constantly one upping any new trick she masters. But when they both fall short at the Olympics, their coach decides that perhaps they can perform better together. Will the enemies become the best pairs figure skaters the world has ever seen? Or will their rivalry hold them back? Started: 27th February 2026 Ended: 20th April 2026 Cover by @liloureynolds

"Don't talk about her like she's some problem I have to solve. Maddie's the reason I ever fell in love with this sport. Before the medals. Before the cameras. Without her, it's just ice." They grew up on the same rink. Madeline loved this from the moment she could walk on her own, however Ilia did not, it was just something his parents expected him to do. He only keep showing up because she was there - constant racing across the empty ice, daring each other for one more jump and ending up falling onto the flat surface. He never planned to skate professionally. Not until he was fourteen. Not until he realized the only place he felt free was beside her. Years pass by, and under the pressure and weight of their talent both of the kids are making it to the USA team, beating records and representing their homeland. As the 2026 Winter Olympics approach, pressure threatens to pull them apart. But when everything is on the line, Ilia has to decide what matters more: the gold medal he chased for years... or the girl who made him fall in love with the ice in the first place.

Yelena was not happy when he quite literally collided with her on the ice. Yelena was definitely not happy when rooming errors land them in a room together. Too bad the Olympics doesn't really care whether Yelena is happy. Yelena Ivankova. The Black Swan. AIN. The world doesn't know her. She competed internationally as a junior topped the charts but once you leave international ice the world forgets. Now she holds Russia's pressure on her shoulders. The world doesn't know her name, they will learn it. Ilia Malinin. The Quad God. Team USA. The world has heard his name. The gold medal favorite, virtually undefeated. He makes history every time he steps on the ice. Now he holds the expectations of the world on his shoulder. The world expects him to win, what happens if the god falls.

Bellamy Alexander has spent her entire career fighting to be taken seriously. People see the blonde hair, blue eyes, and perfect smile before they see the medals around her neck. Bellamy stopped caring a long time ago. Let them underestimate her. She'll beat them anyway. Ilia Malinin doesn't underestimate anyone. Quiet off the ice and lethal on it, Ilia lives for one thing only: winning. While Bellamy thrives in the spotlight, Ilia avoids it at all costs. The only thing they have in common is Team USA and a rivalry so intense the entire skating world talks about it. Every competition becomes a battle. Every practice turns personal. Every glare lasts too long. Bellamy thinks Ilia is arrogant. Ilia thinks Bellamy is impossible. Then Olympic season pushes them closer than ever before. Underneath the arguments and bruised egos, Bellamy starts seeing the boy behind Ilia's cold exterior. Ilia starts realizing Bellamy's confidence hides cracks nobody else notices. And somewhere between fierce competition, late-night practices, and years of unresolved tension, hatred starts feeling dangerously close to something else.

To the skating world, 19-year-old Ayla Alexandrovska is the girl who never falls-the girl who never takes risks. But after a devastating 17th-place finish at the 2024 World Championships, the pressure has never been stronger. She's never been the skater her coach wants: perfect, predictable, and afraid of risks. Then everything changes when her life collides with Ilia Malinin's. Together, they'll face skating disasters, Olympic dreams, and feelings neither of them expected...

Leighton Lawson has always known exactly where she's going. At just twenty years old, she's graduating from her pre-med degree and preparing to begin medical school, driven by one promise she made after losing her mother to cancer: become the doctor every family deserves on their worst day. The last thing she expects before flying home is an indefinite flight delay. Or the quiet, awkward blond stranger who takes the seat beside her. He barely speaks. He blushes when his stomach growls. He insists he's "just a skater." Only later does Leighton realize he's Ilia Malinin, the twenty-one-year-old Olympic figure skating sensation whose historic jumps were the topic of one of her physics lectures just days earlier. Over one unexpected night in an airport, two strangers from completely different worlds form a connection neither of them sees coming. As Ilia chases Olympic gold and Leighton begins the demanding journey through medical school, they learn that falling in love is the easy part. Holding on while pursuing the dreams they've sacrificed everything for is another story entirely. Some departures change your destination. Others change your life.

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan are supposed to be your moment. You're Team USA's newest women's singles skater, full of raw talent and insane potential, but you are missing the basics that could cost you everything. Standing on the same Olympic ice is Ilia Malinin, the record-breaking "Quad God"... and the most frustrating skater you've ever met. When an injury threatens to take Ilia out of competition, he's forced to help train you instead. But the Ilia everyone knows-the funny, carefree prodigy-is gone. Struggling with his own skating and stuck in a place he never wanted to be, he's bitter, distant, and the last person you want as a coach. Now you're trapped training together before the biggest competition of your life. Between constant arguments, late-night practices, and the pressure of the Olympics... the two of you might either break each other completely- or become exactly what the other one needs.

Ella Thornton is as serious as they come. She's the 29 year old founder of her own Celebrity Crisis PR firm and has absolutely no time for anybody's nonsense. Ilia Malinin is the 27 year old heart throb bad boy of the figure skating world. Ever since winning the 2030 Olympics, he's gone off the deep end. Partying every night, new girl on his arm each week, scandalous headlines, and drunken adventures. One day, Ella receives a very important phone call from Tatiana Malinina herself. She needs her help turning around Ilia's image and getting him back on top of the figure skating world. Can Ella help turn Ilia's life around? Can Ilia break through her hardened exterior? Can the two survive the high pressure world of celebrity PR games? Will Ella finally let her walls come down for a spirited skater who's hell bent on getting under her skin? Chaos, adventures, and romance ensue when Ella agrees to take on her most challenging client to date. Ilia Malinin x OC