BOSTON :With a record-equalling six quadruple jumps and an audacious backflip, U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin captured his second straight world championships title in Boston on Saturday.
Malinin was in the lead after Thursday’s short programme and he put the world on notice less than a year to go before the Milano-Cortina Olympics with a stunning display of athleticism in Saturday’s free skate for a total score of 318.56.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan was second with a total of 287.47 while Yuma Kagiyama of Japan (278.19) took bronze.
Fans were champing at the bit to see if the self-proclaimed “Quad God” would attempt history with seven quads in one free skate, as Malinin had been weighing the virtues of risk versus reward in the days leading up to the finale.
The 20-year-old came up one short but the crowd at TD Garden scarcely seemed to mind, cheering wildly as he completed an exquisite quad Axel in a pristine performance that netted him a season’s best score of 208.15.
“I feel very relieved that I was able to put out that performance the way I tried,” he told reporters. “It wasn’t what I planned to and of course there’s a few minor things that I can keep improving but overall I feel pretty confident and I’m really happy for landing the quad loop finally this season.”
Malinin added a bit of spice to the affair with an effortlessly executed backflip near the end of the programme, a high-energy routine that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
He and fourth-place finisher Adam Siao Him Fa of France on Saturday became the first skaters in nearly 50 years to legally land the once-banned move at a world championships.
“I just fought for every element and I’m happy that I got this,” Malinin said.
Silver medallist Shaidorov was third in the standings ahead of the free skate, trailing Malinin by more than 15 points, and told reporters he did not even have a medal in mind when he went out to skate.
He found his best level to deliver a blockbuster routine to move one spot up the podium with a triple Axel-Euler-quad Salchow combination before collapsing to the ice in joy.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I wanted to give my maximum. I did not think that I would end the season in this way.”
Kagiyama was 3.32 points behind Malinin in the standings after the short programme but appeared off his game from the start on Saturday as he popped his jump on his opening manoeuvre, one of a handful of errors across the routine.
The men’s free skate wrapped up the sport’s largest event ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Earlier in the day, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed gold to become the first pair in 28 years to capture three consecutive world ice dance titles.
Leading by almost four points after their electrifying rhythm dance on Friday – vast by ice dance standards – they were virtually flawless as they scored 131.88 points for their sophisticated free dance programme to jazz classic “Take Five,” for a total of 222.06.
Their final spin, in which Chock balanced on Bates’ outstretched foot, had fans leaping to their feet seconds before the programme ended, turning TD Garden into a sea of waving U.S. flags.
“I’m just elated. It was unbelievable,” said 32-year-old Chock. “It almost felt unreal and the performance went by so quickly. I felt like we really flowed through everything with ease and flow.
“To share that with Evan and the audience and then have that home crowd standing ovation at the end is unbelievable.”
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won silver for the second consecutive season, scoring 130.10 for their elegant skate to the Annie Lennox cover of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” for a total 216.54.
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson scored 207.11 for bronze to become the first British world ice dance medallists since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean capped a string of four straight victories in 1984.
The victory sets up married couple Chock and Bates as favourites for Milano-Cortina, where the six-times U.S. champions will aim for their first Games ice dance medal. They were part of the U.S. squad that captured gold in the team event at the 2022 Beijing Games.
“(The third title) means beyond words, I can’t really describe it, but I’m just so grateful for the performance and the home crowd,” said 36-year-old Bates.
