MONTREAL – American figure skating star Ilia Malinin is a world champion – and a world-record holder.
Malinin put on a dominant display that included a jaw-dropping six quad jumps – including his patented quad axel – to snag the men´s singles crown at the World Figure Skating Championships.
“I knew that this could be the best skate of my life,” Malinin said according to AP. “Or it could go terribly wrong.”
The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe.
He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn 227.79 for the free skate for a championship total of 333.76 points.
With the crowd at Montreal’s Centre Bell on their feet by the end of his routine, Malinin, who was third after a short programme he “wasn’t happy about,” acknowledged the cheers then collapsed to the ice before skating off to await the scores.
“When I got on the ice I didn’t know what was going to happen. I could have the freestyle of my life or it could go totally wrong,” said Malinin.
It didn’t go wrong. In the final tally, Malinin was almost 24 points ahead of Yuma Kagiyama of Japan. Third place went to the French European champion Adam Siao Him Fa, who had finished in an almost hopeless 19th place after a failed short programme.
Olympic champion Nathan Chen, also of the United States, set the previous free programme record of 224.92 in 2019.
Malinin dropped to the ice in disbelief after presenting his sheer athletics to a rowdy Bell Centre crowd that cheered and clapped the whole way.
“To hear the crowd go wild when I didn´t even finish my program yet is just an incredible experience,” Malinin said. “It was so amazing to me. I couldn´t even hold myself up, it was just that emotional to me.”
He dethroned two-time defending world champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who fell to fourth at 280.85 after missing two quad jumps to start his program.
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was second at 309.65 and Adam Siao Him Fa of France claimed the bronze at 284.39.
Siao Him Fa climbed from 19th to third with an awe-inspiring display of his own, which included a backflip.
Earlier Saturday, 2022 Olympic champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States defended their ice dance world title with a season-best total score of 222.20.
Canada´s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished second at 219.68 and Italy´s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri were third at 216.52.
It´s Montreal´s first time hosting the event since 1932. The city was supposed to stage the 2020 championship but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the competition.
Olympic champion Nathan Chen, also of the United States, set the previous free programme record of 224.92 in 2019.
Boston will hold the 2025 competition.
