'Quad God' Olympic Schedule, What to Expect from Figure Skater Ilia Malinin After 'Autopilot' Start

Ilia Malinin has yet to unleash the full powers of the Quad God at the Milano Cortina Olympics, but that should change soon enough..

"I wanted to take [the short program] a little more slowly, a little more calm, and just push the autopilot button, see what happens," he told reporters ahead of the free skate competition at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

Granted, "autopilot" was still good enough for first place in the short program during the individual competition. During the short program of the team event, however, Malinin came second to Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, a surprising result. But he returned for the free skate and finished first, ahead of Japan's Shun Sato, to clinch team gold for the United States.

So long as Malinin executes his routine, he'll win. Nobody in the world matches his technical difficulty. He's even landed seven quadruple jumps in a single routine, an absurd feat, and is the two-time reigning world champion. This is his first Olympics, however, and if he slips up Kagiyama is more than capable of overtaking him.

"Just watching Yuma, I have such a huge heart for him," Malinin told reporters. "He's such an incredible skater, and both of us are really pushing each other to maximize our points, our skills and technical abilities on the ice. And I always say that skating is not just a sport, it's also a piece of art."

A gold medal hangs in the balance. If the Quad God reaches his full powers, that medal will be his.