Malinin put on a dominant display that included a jaw-dropping six quad jumps — including his patented quad axel — to snag the men’s singles crown Saturday night at the world championships.
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, reacts after his free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, celebrate with their gold medals during the victory ceremony for the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, reacts after his free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Ilia Malinin of the United States reacts following his free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, performs his free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, of Canada, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada World Figure Skating Championships Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, of Italy, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, of Canada, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, of Britain, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, of Canada, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
APTOPIX Canada Figure Skating World Championships Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek of the Czech Republic perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Loicia Demougeot and Theo Le Mercier of France perform their free dance program in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, reacts following his free skate at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Ilia Malinin, of the United States, performs his free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Gold medalist Ilia Malinin, of the United States, poses following the victory ceremony after the free skate at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Ilia Malinin, of the United States, performs his free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Ilia Malinin, of the United States, reacts following his free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, performs his free skate routine at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Gold medalist Ilia Malinin, front left, of the United States, celebrates with silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama, right, of Japan, and bronze medalist Adam Siao Him Fa, back left, of France, during the victory ceremony for the free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Ilia Malinin, of the United States, celebrates his gold medal during the victory ceremony after the free skate at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Gold medalist Ilia Malinin, of the United States, celebrates following the victory ceremony at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Ilia Malinin, of the United States, celebrates with his gold medal during the victory ceremony for the free skate in the men's competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Canada Figure Skating World Championships Gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates, center, of the United States; silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, left, of Canada; and bronze medalists Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, of Italy, pose during the victory ceremony in the the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
APTOPIX Canada Figure Skating World Championships Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, perform their free dance program in the ice dance competition at the figure skating world championships in Montreal, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP
Worlds Figure Skating Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, perform their free dance in the ice dance competition at the world figure skating championships Saturday, March 23, 3024, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
MONTREAL (AP) — American figure skating star Ilia Malinin is a world champion — and a world-record holder.
Malinin put on a dominant display that included a jaw-dropping six quad jumps — including his patented quad axel — to snag the men’s singles crown Saturday night at the world championships.
“I knew that this could be the best skate of my life,” Malinin said. “Or it could go terribly wrong.”
After placing third in Thursday’s short program, the 19-year-old scored a world-record 227.79 in the free program while skating to the “Succession” soundtrack to bring his total to 333.76 — more than 20 points than the rest of the field.
Olympic champion Nathan Chen, also of the United States, set the previous free program record of 224.92 in 2019.
Malinin dropped to the ice in disbelief after presenting his sheer athletics to a rowdy Bell Centre crowd that cheered and clapped the whole way.
“To hear the crowd go wild when I didn’t even finish my program yet is just an incredible experience,” Malinin said. “It was so amazing to me. I couldn’t even hold myself up, it was just that emotional to me.”
He dethroned two-time defending world champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who fell to fourth at 280.85 after missing two quad jumps to start his program.
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was second at 309.65 and Adam Siao Him Fa of France claimed the bronze at 284.39. Siao Him Fa climbed from 19th to third with an awe-inspiring display of his own, which included a backflip.
Earlier Saturday, 2022 Olympic champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States defended their ice dance world title with a season-best total score of 222.20.
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished second at 219.68 and Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri were third at 216.52.
It’s Montreal’s first time hosting the event since 1932. The city was supposed to stage the 2020 championship but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the competition.
