MILAN — Ilia Malinin’s quest for his first Olympic gold medal in figure skating is off to a strong — but not perfect — start.

The 21-year-old American finished second in Saturday’s short program as part of the team event, with a score of 98.00.

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, took top honors after posting a 108.67. Stephen Gogolev of Canada was third, with a 92.99.

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Malinin is making his Olympic debut after narrowly missing the team in 2022. He is the heavy favorite in the individual event after winning world championships in both 2024 and 2025.

“I felt really good. I felt really confident and I’m grateful to be here,” Malinin told NBC News after his performance. “It’s an honor to be here. I’ve spent so much time and dedication just to get to this point. To have this one event down is awesome.”

Malinin’s routine was smooth, with no deductions from judges, and did include a backflip that caused the packed crowd to stand up and applaud. He said the move — which was banned for nearly 50 years but was made legal by the International Skating Union in 2024 — should hopefully bring new fans to figure skating.

“Once I did that backflip, everyone was screaming for joy,” Malinin said. “It was out of control. It’s really something that is bringing back the popularity of the sport. The backflip is something I’m sure a lot of people know, the basics of what it really is. I think just having that really can bring in the non-figure skating crowd as well.”

The Virginia native is nicknamed the “Quad God” for his ability to land a quadruple axel, a 4 1/2-rotation jump that nobody else has ever completed in a competition. Not only has Malinin landed it, but he’s done it numerous times. In the 2025 Grand Prix Final, he landed seven quad jumps.

American figure skating legend Brian Boitano — who claimed gold at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary — said Malinin has set the technical bar “higher than anyone ever in our sport.”

“He just is so dominant on a technical level, but he’s also trying to push the level of artistic and skating quality to new levels as well,” Boitano told NBC News earlier on Saturday. “He’s not just focusing on the athletic side. He’s also looking at the component scores that we call it, or artistic marks.”

“He’s trying to get better and better, and he will get better and better as he continues to like skate more and just get older,” Boitano said. “But it’s just amazing what he’s doing, and I feel like he makes it look so easy.”

Malinin said he’s not worried about finishing first in his debut skate — there’s much more to come over the next two weeks.

Being the gold-medal favorite “is a lot of pressure,” he said Saturday night, “and it’s honestly something that I’ve expected to do coming to these Olympics. But overall, I just need to pace myself correctly, put myself in the right mindset not to think about that pressure and really just come out here and do what I need to do.”

The U.S. leads the team event by a point over Japan heading into the free dance. The team event ends Sunday with the pairs, women’s and men’s free skates.