Malinin is the first and only skater to land a fully rotated quadruple Axel, widely regarded as the hardest jump in figure skating, in international competition.

[5] His maternal grandfather, Valery Malinin, is a former competitor for the Soviet Union and currently coaches skaters in Novosibirsk, Russia.

Internationally, on the advanced novice level, Malinin is the 2018 Asian Open Trophy champion and the 2018 Golden Bear silver medalist.

Malinin placed a surprise fifth at Skate America after unveiling two new quadruple jumps – toe loop and Salchow – that he had learned during lockdown.

[13] With the resumption of the Junior Grand Prix, Malinin returned to international competition at the first edition of the 2021 JGP France in Courchevel, winning the gold medal despite making errors on both of his attempted quadruple jumps in the free skate.

"[14] At his second event, the 2021 JGP Austria in Linz, Malinin entered as one of the favorites for the gold medal and won with new personal bests in all segments.

[16] Malinin finished the season at the 2022 World Junior Championships, which due to Bulgarian pandemic measures was delayed from early March to mid-April and relocated from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Tallinn in Estonia.

[19] He won the free skate as well, setting junior world records for that segment and for total score, taking the gold medal by a margin of almost 42 points.

[20] Returning to the senior level at the 2021 Cup of Austria in November, he placed 13th in the short program, but rallied with a second-place free skate to win the bronze medal.

[27][28][29] At the Japan Open as part of Team North America, Malinin placed second in the men's free skate competition, earning a total of 193.42 points, just behind world champion Shoma Uno, who scored 193.80.

Returning to the senior Grand Prix at the 2022 Skate America in Norwood, Massachusetts, Malinin fell on his quad toe jump but earned 86.08 points in his short program, which put him in fourth place.

[33] At his second event, the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, Malinin underrotated two of his jumps and stumbled out of his triple Axel, as a result placing second in that segment behind France's Kévin Aymoz.

[35][36] At the Final in Torino, Malinin stepped out of two jumps and slightly underrotated a third, as a result placing fifth in that segment with a score of 80.10, well back of the leaders.

"[39][40] Malinin entered the 2023 U.S. Championships as the gold medal favourite, and, after a season of difficulties in the short program, delivered a clean performance to rank first in the segment by 10.11 points over Jason Brown.

He placed second in that segment, behind Andrew Torgashev and only narrowly ahead of Brown, but won the gold medal on the strength of his short program showing.

[43] Beginning the Grand Prix at the 2023 Skate America, Malinin won the short program by almost seven points over Kévin Aymoz.

"[44] He landed all of his jumps in the free skate as well, setting new personal bests in that segment (206.41) and overall (310.47), his first instances of breaking the 200- and 300-point barriers internationally.

[49][50] At the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Malinin's score of 105.97 put him in third place following the short program, behind Shoma Uno (107.72) and Yuma Kagiyama (106.35) of Japan.

In the free program, Malinin successfully performed six quadruple jumps, including two in combination, plus a triple Lutz-triple Axel sequence.

[21] One week later, he competed at the 2024 Skate Canada International, winning the event and securing a spot at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

[57][58] Fellow figure skaters that Malinin has cited as inspirations include Evgeni Plushenko, Nathan Chen, Mikhail Kolyada, Yuzuru Hanyu, Alexandra Trusova, as well as his mother, Tatiana.

[10][59] In addition to being known for his ability to land a wide array of quadruple jumps, Malinin is also able to perform on-ice backflips, which he began adding to his competitive programs during the 2024–25 figure skating season following the ISU's decision to lift the element's ban.

[60][61] Malinin is also credited for introducing a unique choreographic move where he uses a "butterfly" entrance to propel his body into the air before performing a single sideways twist.