Ilia Malinin starts a new Olympic figure skating cycle this week having adopted a second nickname — in addition to the longstanding “Quad God” — and a fresh philosophy for the next four years.

Some things haven’t shifted, though.

Malinin is once again the headliner at Saatva Skate America — live on NBC Sports and Peacock from Friday through Sunday — in his first competition since winning a third consecutive world title last March.

Malinin, the only skater to ever land a quadruple Axel in competition, said his short program and free skate this season are among the most difficult programs of his career — technically and artistically.

He didn’t go into detail on specific jumps, leaving that question to be answered in Friday’s short program and Saturday’s free skate in Everett, Washington.

But we know he made changes since last season, in part as a result of an eighth-place finish at the Olympics after a disastrous free skate in Milan. That snapped a 14-event win streak that dated to 2023.

“That day will forever be known as the worst day of my life,” Malinin, who clinched Olympic team gold for the U.S. before that, said last week.

Yet he also said he now believes the Olympic result was “the best thing that could have happened to me. Everyone got to see this human side of me.”

On April 2, five days after his bounce-back world title in Prague, Malinin set the tone for the next phase of his career.

“Now is the start of another chapter,” he posted. “New projects, new challenges, new goals, new ideas, new name. Ready for everything and anything that comes in my way. Curiosity and Passion is a Weapon.

"(and lets have some fun) - ChaosG0d and Quadg0d.”

Ilia Malinin, Quad God, adopts Chaos God

Malinin has been known as Quad God since shortly after 2020 Skate America, when at age 15 he landed two different quad jumps.

The new nickname, Chaos God, is similar to his previous, lesser known nickname — Chaos Kid.

“Ironically, it (Chaos God) has helped me stop thinking about the expectations of being Quad God,” Malinin told fellow Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin. “It’s helped me try to find another way, or be someone else, to kind of have that change instead of trying to live up to this name. It’s helped me differentiate, having maybe a different personality of being more open, being more genuinely myself as opposed to this skating godly figure who just does quads on a daily basis.”

Malinin also introduced a broader life philosophy: Vision 2030. While it sounds like a roadmap to the next Winter Olympics in France, it is also much more than that.

“The progress I make for the next four years, not just skating,” he told soccer player Midge Purce. “As a person, as a business, just success. Everything about me that can happen and will happen, this is what this whole thing is about. It’s basically this new journey.”

It’s in the vein of one of Malinin’s favorite quotes — “creating something that’s not there yet” — a mantra that has defined his revolutionary skating. He plunged into the content world, launching a YouTube channel.

Malinin shared glimpses of what he created for this season with his coaches — Olympian parents Roman Skornyakov and Tatyana Malinina — and his choreographer, Canadian Shae-Lynn Bourne.

His short program honors those who died in the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash on January 29, 2025, including those with ties to the figure skating community and specifically Malinin’s Washington Figure Skating Club.

His free skate is to the “Blue Eye Samurai” soundtrack.

“They are definitely a step up, and not only technically, but also artistically,” he said. “I know 100% that I would not be able to pull any of these programs off if it were done a few years ago.”

Most skaters compete in at least one lower-level event in the late summer or early fall before the high-stakes Grand Prix Series that includes Skate America. Malinin eschewed that strategy for the first time in his career.

He called this week’s debut — the first of what could be three competitions in a month across the U.S., Japan and China — a “starting point” and a “test.”

“Around four years ahead before the next Olympics, I’ll be able to take the season as more of a roller coaster to enjoy the actual skating side of it instead of really being focused on placements and competitions,” he said. “Something that I was not really able to stay in touch with the last two years.”

However it goes, it’s a new beginning.

“We’ll be able to see if I can live up to what I have put out there,” he said.