Boston (AFP) – Ilia Malinin dazzled with six quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in his closing free skate Saturday to win his second straight men’s figure skating world title. The 20-year-old known as the “Quad God” had teased the prospect of seven quadruple jumps in the free skate, but even though he doubled one of them it was a scintillating performance at a packed TD Garden — where his total score of 318.56 put him 31.09 points clear of silver medallist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan.
Malinin, the only skater to complete a quadruple axel in competition, landed all six types of quadruples, adding a quad flip, quad Lutz, quad Salchow, a quad toe loop and the quad loop that has been giving him trouble. He doubled one planned quadruple jump, but by the time he delighted the crowd with a late back flip it didn’t matter in the least. “I was definitely proud because I finally got that loop done the one time in competition,” said Malinin, who earned 208.15 for his free skate. “It was OK. I just kind of went through the rest and when I finished, I was glad it was over,” added Malinin, who lay splayed on the ice for a moment when he was done.
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Shaidorov moved up from third after the short program with an outstanding free skate that included four quadruple jumps. He earned 192.70 points for a total of 287.47. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, second after the short program and trailing Malinin by just 3.32 points, had a tough free skate. He reduced one quadruple to a double, stepped out of the landing on another and fell on yet another. But his score of 171.10 was enough to keep him on the podium with a total of 278.19.
Malinin reinforced his status as the man to beat with the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics less than a year away. And he capped a stellar showing for the United States in Boston, where a resurgent Alysa Liu won the women’s title on Friday and Madison Chock and Evan Bates captured a third straight ice dance crown earlier Saturday. Liu, 19, topped the podium just a year after returning to the sport she walked away from in 2022 when she was just 16. It is the first time the United States have won world titles in three disciplines at the same figure skating world championships. The exception was the pairs title won by Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara.
– ‘Magical week’ – Chock and Bates became the first duo in 28 years to win a third straight ice dance world title on Saturday. Leading by 3.74 points after the rhythm dance, the Americans captivated in their jazz-themed free skate, scoring 131.88 points for a total of 222.06. “This has been such a magical week,” Chock said. “This one definitely feels extra special to do it in front of a home crowd and to have two of our best skates of the season.”
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who beat Chock and Bates at the Four Continents Championships in February, were second with a total of 216.54. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain were third, garnering 123.25 points for their crowd-pleasing free dance to a medley of Beyonce hits for a total of 207.11. They’re the first Britons to claim a world medal since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the last of their four consecutive ice dance titles in 1984.
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