Ilia Malinin Bounces Back From Winter Olympics Nightmare With 3rd Straight World Title

PRAGUE (AP) — Ilia Malinin has reclaimed his position atop the podium.

Just six weeks after a disastrous free skate cost him the Olympic gold medal, the so-called “quad god” executed a series of impressive jumps and even a backflip to secure his world championship title for the third consecutive year on Saturday.

After completing his performance, Malinin expressed relief with a shout and a fist pump, demonstrating he had succeeded in his goal to “move on” from the Olympics and correct his previous mistakes.

He expressed gratitude for the audience’s encouragement, stating, “It was really challenging, really hard but with you guys I was able to make it through.” He noted that his primary objective was simply to complete the free skate “in one piece.”

Skating last after leading the short program, echoing his performance in Milan, Malinin successfully executed five high-scoring quadruple jumps, although he did not attempt his pioneering quad axel, which he skipped at the Olympics as well.

Malinin approached the world championships with a renewed mindset, free from the Olympic pressures. His focus was to “enjoy every moment on the ice and just have fun out there.”

“Going here I felt like there was almost no pressure at all,” he remarked. “I just completely blocked out all the expectations, all the pressure that people put on me and was really here to escape for myself and enjoy every moment of these world championships.”

Malinin achieved a score of 218.11 in the free skate, culminating in a total of 329.40, significantly outpacing Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who took silver with 306.67. Another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, placed third with 288.54.

Kagiyama, despite surpassing his personal-best free skate score, had to settle for his fourth career world championship silver. His achievements include four Olympic silvers and five worlds medals, but no gold from either event. Nonetheless, he embraced Malinin after his performance, and the two celebrated together.

Once again, being second was not an issue for Kagiyama.

Reflecting on his Olympic performance, he stated, “I came here solely focused on finishing the event with a satisfying performance,” and added, “I’m relieved that I was finally able to achieve that goal.”

In a display of elite skating, France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who was second after the short program, fell to fifth overall after a tumble. Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko also slipped from third to sixth.

Malinin did not face a rematch with Mikhail Shaidorov, the Olympic gold medalist from Kazakhstan, who chose not to compete this season.

This decision is quite common among figure skating gold medalists, who often encounter a surge of media and commercial opportunities following the Olympic events.

Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive men’s world titles since fellow American Nathan Chen achieved this in 2018, 2019, and 2021, after the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world championships featured an ice dance event where the Milan Cortina Olympic champions competed. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron added a world title to their accolades.

The French pair scored 138.07 in their free dance, achieving a total of 230.81, both personal records, in a successful and often controversial first season together.

Canadian Olympic bronze medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier earned the world silver medal for the third consecutive year with a score of 211.52.

Although Olympic silver medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates withdrew before the championships, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik achieved a surprise bronze for the U.S. with a score of 209.20.

This result came after the British pair Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson received a rare two-point deduction for an “illegal element/movement” and fell behind the Americans. The exact nature of the error was not immediately clarified.

Kaori Sakamoto secured women’s gold on Friday, marking her fourth world title before retiring. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin claimed the pairs title on Thursday.

Ellingworth reported from Duesseldorf, Germany.

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