A year into the job as CEO of Utah’s 2034 Winter Games, former Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson wasn’t expecting to be inspired by figure skating’s “Quad God” at the Olympics in Milan Cortina, Italy. But that’s how it went when Wilson bumped into Ilia Malinin in a sponsor’s suite at the Milano Ice Arena, just days after the 21-year-old world champion from Virginia, whose quadruple jumps made him a favorite for gold, fell during the men’s free skate and finished in eighth place.
“He started asking questions about our Games,” Wilson recalled. “I said, ‘Well, we’re hoping you’re still skating during our Games,’ and he said, ‘I hope I am, too. But I will be in Utah in May and I hope that people from Utah will come out and watch us skate.’”
