Ilia Malinin claimed his third consecutive world figure skating championship on Saturday in Prague, delivering a commanding free skate that erased the memory of his Olympic collapse a month earlier. The 21-year-old American finished with a total score of 329.40 points, comfortably ahead of Japan's Yumi Kagiyama (306.67) and Shun Sato (288.54).
Skating last at the O2 Arena, Malinin produced a free program of 218.11 points, landing five quadruple jumps, including a quad toe-triple toe combination and a backflip. His performance was marked by composure and precision, a stark contrast to his Olympic free skate where he fell twice and finished eighth.
“I definitely felt very pushed and loved from the crowd,” Malinin said. “Every single element I did, they were all behind me.” His short program earlier in the week had set a personal best of 111.29, giving him a lead of more than nine points.
Kagiyama, the Olympic silver medalist, surpassed his personal-best free skate score to a selection from Puccini's Turandot but settled for second again. Sato's program to Stravinsky's Firebird earned him bronze, repeating his Milano Cortina result. Canada's Stephen Gogolev placed fourth, while France's Adam Siao Him Fa dropped to fifth after falling on a quad.
Malinin became the first man to win three straight world titles since American Nathan Chen, who achieved the feat from 2018 to 2021. “It was really challenging and really hard,” Malinin told the crowd. “But with you guys I was able to make it through.”
