US Skating Star Ilia Malinin Rocks Alex Ovechkin’s Yellow Laces At 2026 Olympics
Ovechkin may not be Olympic bound, but his signature laces are
While Russian athletes are able to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina as Individual Neutral Athletes, their teams are barred from competition, which means NHL goal-scoring king Alex Ovechkin will not be on hand.
However, one of his signatures — bright yellow laces — will be on hand. It'll be in the figure skating competition.
Ovechkin has rocked yellow skate laces virtually his entire career, and while you see kids wearing them as an homage to the Great 8, you rarely see other pros.
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I think that's because doing so would open you up to an easy, "Look at this guy; he thinks he Ovie" chirp.
And, if we dig further into the world of skate lace colors, figure skates tend to either go white or black.
However, US figure skater Ilia Malinin will be going the yellow route in Milan, and not just any yellow laces.
These are from Ovechkin himself.
What hockey players did all the other skaters get their laces from?
…They didn't?
Well, guess we're big Ilia Malinin fans around these parts then.
The 21-year-old is from Virginia, and that's how he crossed paths with the Capitals captain.
According to NBC, he's known as the "Quad God" after becoming the first skater to pull off a quadruple axle in competition. That's a jump with four full rotations.
This will be Malinin's first Olympic appearance, though he was selected as an alternate for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
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Seems like that may have been an oversight, as this time around he's the favorite to win gold.
We'll see how it pans out, but there's no way throwing on a pair of Ovechkin's personal yellow laces could turn into a problem.
Maybe, if he can find one around Milan, Malinin can pay homage to the Great 8 by polishing off a Subway sandwich and a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos before the competition.
…Scratch that. Probably a bad idea before doing a bunch of spinning.