Ilia Malinin cruises to 2nd straight title to cap an American gold rush at figure skating worlds

BOSTON (AP) — Ilia Malinin walked toward the ice for his free skate at the world championships with the swagger of a conquering hero.

Then he backed up the bravado.

The 20-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia, laid down another high-flying, high-energy program while defending his title Saturday night, earning a standing ovation inside TD Garden and capping a memorable home championships for the Americans, who won three gold medals in the four figure skating disciplines to take a wave of momentum into an Olympic year.

Malinin came up short in his season-long quest to land a record seven quadruple jumps — he had to settle for a mere six after he popped a planned quad lutz. But it hardly mattered. He finished with a season-best 318.56 points after his free skate, set to “I'm Not a Vampire” by Falling In Reverse, to win his second gold medal by more than 31 points.

“I was so glad I was able to work out the whole season to get to this moment,” Malinin said. “It means a lot to me.”

Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan leaped past Yuma Kagiyama and into second place with a solid free skate of his own, finishing with 287.47 points, while the reigning Olympic silver medalist from Japan wound up third with 278.19.

“If someone had asked me at the beginning of the season that I would be on the world podium, I never would have believed it,” Shaidorov said. “The season was difficult but at the same time it was a breakthrough, and I'm just crazily happy to be on a world podium with such great skaters as Ilia and Yuma, and now I just want to keep moving forward.”

Earlier in the night, Madison Chock and Evan Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world championships in nearly three decades when their jazzy free skate held off longtime Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

They set the stage for Malinin to join the American gold rush, one night after Alysa Liu's triumph in the women's event.

Malinin, who had a three-point cushion over Kagiyama after his short program, oozed confidence as he sauntered to the ice for his warm-up. And when former Olympic ice dancer Ben Agosto announced his name, and a second straight sellout crowd at TD Garden roared, the self-styled “Quad God" became downright stoic as he prepared for his program.

The program itself? The kind of stuff few can do these days.

Malinin hit his first four quads, including the axel only he has ever landed in competition, before the only real misstep, when he doubled up the lutz. But he stayed in the moment, finishing the program to a roar of approval from the home fans.

He was already the favorite to win gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympics next year.

Now, the question is whether anybody else can even compete with him.

“Clearly, you know, he's at the top of the field right now,” said Nathan Chen, who claimed gold for the U.S. at the 2022 Beijing Olympics before stepping away from the competitive sport. “Whatever he's doing, certainly it's working.”

The same could be said for Chock and Bates in ice dancing.

The longtime partners won with 222.06 points Saturday night, while Gilles and Poirier took silver for the second consecutive year with 216.54. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson landed on the podium in third, earning Britain its first worlds medal of any color since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean finished their run of four straight ice dance titles in 1984.

Russia's Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov were the last to win three in a row, triumphing four straight times from 1994-97.

“Coming in here, we weren't thinking about a three-peat or any type of title defense. It was a standalone event,” Bates said. “We were prepared as we could possibly be and we skated as well as we could have.”

Now, Chock and Bates are ready to turn their attention to their biggest goal: the Winter Olympics in February.

They have been on the sport's biggest stage before, and were part of the U.S. squad that won team gold at the 2022 Games in Beijing — following a protracted investigation into Russian doping. But for all their success, Chock and Bates have never stood on an Olympic podium in ice dance itself, finishing just off it in fourth place three years ago.

“I think the Olympic season certainly carries a different weight than the other three years,” Chock said. “You have this incredible opportunity to reach the entire world, and it makes it really special, because it amplifies our voices on and off the ice.”

The trip to Italy is Malinin's primary focus, too. He was left off the team for Beijing despite finishing second at nationals that year, when U.S. Figure Skating opted for a more experienced lineup for the Winter Games.

Now, he will be leading one of the strongest American contingents ever toward the Olympics.

“My focus on the Olympics will start at the beginning of next season, when the competitions start rolling around,” Malinin said. “That is when I will have to start on strategy, making sure I like how the programs are, and how the jumps are going, and making sure that everything is comfortable before the Olympics.”

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