Ilia Malinin delivered a historic performance at the World Figure Skating Championships, securing his second consecutive world title with a record-tying six quadruple jumps. The 20-year-old American dazzled the audience at TD Garden with a season-best total score of 318.56, finishing 31.09 points ahead of Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who took silver, and Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who settled for bronze after an error-filled free skate.
Malinin’s victory highlighted a dominant weekend for the United States, which claimed three of the four gold medals available. He joined women’s champion Alysa Liu and ice dance winners Madison Chock and Evan Bates, sending a strong message ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan.
Skating last to I’m Not a Vampire by Falling in Reverse, Malinin executed a flawless quadruple flip before landing the elusive quad Axel, a four-and-a-half-revolution jump that has remained beyond reach for most skaters. He followed with a quad loop, quad Lutz, quad toe, and quad Salchow, the last two in combination. Only a popped Lutz prevented him from attempting all seven planned quads.
The quad Axel has now been landed in competition 15 times, all by Malinin, since he first accomplished it at age 17. He punctuated his routine with a newly legalized backflip, becoming, along with France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, one of the first skaters to land the move at a world championship in nearly five decades. The electrifying performance ended with a standing ovation from the packed arena.
“This means everything to me,” Malinin said. “I fought for every element and am happy with what I achieved.” His win streak now extends to nine consecutive events since December 2023. His margin of victory was the second-largest in modern scoring history, trailing only Nathan Chen’s dominant win in 2018. With the Milan Olympics 10 months away, he is poised as the overwhelming favorite for gold.
Among his quads, Malinin was particularly pleased with the loop, a jump that had troubled him throughout the season. “I feel relieved that I was finally able to land it cleanly,” he said. “There are still minor areas to improve, but overall, I’m very confident.”
Malinin, the son of former Olympians from Uzbekistan who relocated to Virginia, was controversially left off the U.S. Olympic team in 2022 despite a strong performance at nationals. Since then, he has revolutionized the sport’s technical landscape and continues to push its boundaries.
Shaidorov, meanwhile, delivered a personal-best routine featuring four clean quads to earn Kazakhstan’s first world medal in figure skating. Performing to a Moonlight Sonata-Take On Me mashup, the 20-year-old, who also won Four Continents in February, moved ahead of Kagiyama, who struggled to stay on his feet throughout his program.
“If someone had told me at the start of the season that I would be on the world podium, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Shaidorov said. “It was a tough season but also a breakthrough, and I’m thrilled to share the podium with Ilia and Yuma.”
Kagiyama, an Olympic silver medalist and three-time world silver medalist, entered the free skate just 3.32 points behind Malinin but fell on his Salchow and stepped out of a triple Axel, finishing with 278.19 points and a bronze medal.
Other American competitors had mixed results. Jason Brown’s expressive and clean performance earned him eighth place and a standing ovation, while Andrew Torgashev struggled, finishing 22nd. Together, they secured three spots for Team USA’s men’s contingent at the 2026 Olympics.
Despite the excitement of the championships, the event was marked by grief following a January plane crash that claimed the lives of 28 members of the skating community, including young skaters, coaches, and parents. Many of the victims trained at Malinin’s home rink in Virginia.
“They are always in my heart,” Malinin said. “I wanted to skate for them. I hope I made them proud.”
Earlier, Madison Chock and Evan Bates made history by becoming the first ice dance duo in nearly three decades to win three consecutive world titles, holding off Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. British team Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson took bronze, marking the first world championship medal for Britain since 1984.
