Montreal: American Ilia Malinin performed six stunning quadruple jumps in the men’s free skate on Saturday, including a quadruple Axel, to claim his first world figure skating title.
Nicknamed the “Quad God”, the 19-year-old, who is the only skater to land a quad Axel in competition, dazzled with a series of breathtaking jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quad Lutz combined with a triple flip. and a quadruple tip combined with a triple tip.
In the end, he added an unexpected triple combination and earned 227.79 in the free ride for a championship total of 333.76 points.
With the crowd at Montreal’s Bell Center on their feet at the end of his routine, Malinin, who was third after a short program he was “not excited about,” acknowledged the cheers, then collapsed to the ice before skating off to await the score. .
“I’m in shock right now,” said Malinin, who said this week that he had recently struggled with injuries and lost confidence.
“The last few weeks have been so hard for me to train and I even thought I wouldn’t be able to race at the World Championships.
“And I’m so glad I was able to achieve that here,” he said.
“A little voice in my head said, “No matter what you have to keep fighting, you have to keep going, no matter how bad or how good you feel, you just have to know what you’re capable of and stick to your muscles .” memory and the training you went through.”
Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan won silver with a total of 309.65 points. His freestyle included three quadruple jumps, but he fell after landing a triple Axel.
European champion Adam Siao Him Fa of France claimed a stunning bronze when he soared from 19th place after the short program with a free skate that included four quadruple jumps to score 294.39 points overall.
Two-time defending champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who was leading after the short program, suffered a disastrous free ride. He fell on his opening quadruple jump and botched two more landings.
He was sixth in the freestyle to finish fourth with 280.85 points and said that despite his inability to “three-peat” it was an “overall exciting experience.”
The American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates successfully defended their ice dancing crown and sealed an undefeated season.
Montreal’s Chock, 31, and Bates, 35, finished with a total of 222.20 points ahead of Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who finished second with 219.68.
Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri finished third with a total of 216.52.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” Chock said after Saturday’s win. “And to do it in our adopted hometown of Montreal — the support has been incredible.
Chock and Bates led after posting a top score of 90.08 in Friday’s rhythm dance, edging out Gilles and Poirier in Saturday’s free dance.
However, the Canadian duo’s total was not enough to unseat Chock and Bates from first place, and the Americans celebrated their second consecutive world title.
Chock and Bates became partners in 2011 and got engaged later that year.
This year they won Grand Prix events on home ice and in Finland, won the Grand Prix Final and also claimed their fifth US crown.
