Ilia Malinin, the self-proclaimed “Quad God,” lived up to his nickname by landing six quadruple jumps on his way to winning his second consecutive World Figure Skating Championship title.
The 20-year-old skater, who was born in Fairfax, Va., landed a quadruple Axel and five other quadruple jumps to claim the men’s title by a commanding margin. His score of 318.56 points was 31.09 points ahead of silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan. Yuma Kagiyama from Japan struggled in the free skate but hung onto the bronze.
“I was just really trained. I just wanted to give it my all and really fight for every element,” Malinin said after his victory. “I really feel like I did that here.”
Malinin’s teammates Jason Brown finished in 8th place, ensuring Team USA three berths at next year’s Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.
Malinin’s horror-themed program to “I’m Not a Vampire” culminated with a back flip at the end, a new move allowed by the International Skating Union this season. His routine wasn’t perfect — a Lutz was doubled in the second half of the program — but his technical dominance still easily gave him the victory.
As the two-time and reigning world champion, Malinin heads into next year’s Olympics as the heavy favorite.
Malinin finished second behind Nathan Chen at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but the organizing committee did not name him to the 2022 Olympic team, instead sending Vincent Zhou and Brown. Chen won gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
With his victory in Boston, Malinin joins other American world champions including the late Dick Button, Hayes Alan Jenkins, David Jenkins, Tim Wood, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Todd Eldredge, Evan Lysacek and Chen.
Earlier in the day, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the ice dancing competition for the third consecutive year. Alysa Liu claimed the women’s title on Friday night, with Team USA winning three out of the four events.
The last time the U.S. won gold in both the men’s and women’s disciplines was Todd Eldredge and Michelle Kwan in 1996.
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