Ari Zakarian: “Now, I would call his skating skills a huge credit to Ilia himself because he works on it more than anyone else I’ve ever seen in our sport.”
Ari Zakarian about working with Ilia Malinin.
original source: RT
Ilia Malinin’s sports agent, Ari Zakarian, spoke about working with the figure skater. Here’s a translation of his comment.
“Ari Zakarian: I am genuinely proud to be working alongside such an athlete. Even when Ilia just steps onto the ice and skates, watching him is an incredible pleasure. It’s not just about the jumps and technique. His gliding on the ice is exceptional.
Q: At the beginning of his senior career, Malinin was often criticized for lacking this component.
Ari Zakarian: Now, I would call his skating skills a huge credit to Ilia himself because he works on it more than anyone else I’ve ever seen in our sport. And believe me, I’ve seen many. Ilia works like crazy. At 19 years old, he has the mindset of a mature and very intelligent person. Now, we are preparing to launch his merch, a clothing line which I hope will stand out from many other athletes’ brands.
We intend to experiment a lot with both the design and the range. Ilia loves the combination of black and gold, so the initial collection will be in these colors. But we are exploring a variety of options in this area too. At one time, Michael Jordan made Nike the brand we all know today, and I see in Malinin a person who could develop sport fashion in a similar way. And not only sport fashion. Ilia likes to look stylish, he curates his own wardrobe, and he has taste. Sometimes he’s criticized for dressing too catchy, but you have to remember that he’s still a teenager.
Q: Is he the one who runs to play computer games after skating?
Ari Zakarian: Yes, he loves that. He hangs out on Twitch when he has free time and does live streams. I’m currently working hard on turning this into a serious project as well. Computer games nowadays represent a completely different commercial sphere.
Q: Why do you think Malinin can interest someone in this field if he’s not a top player?
Ari Zakarian: Ilia is actually quite good. He seriously competes, for example, with Shoma Uno, who holds a very high status either in the world or in the Japanese rankings. So he’s really strong.”
Related topics: Ari Zakarian, Ilia Malinin
Leave a Reply