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BOSTON — Ilia Malinin's top rival said this week that he's starting to think the self-proclaimed "Quad God" is invincible.
With every effortless quadruple jump Saturday at TD Garden, every elegant twist, every precise bend of his skate, a slightly different word came to mind: Inevitable.
Malinin defended his world title in mesmerizing and dominant fashion at the 2025 world championships in Boston, landing six quads during his free skate before cracking a smile in the middle of the ice and basking in the cheers from the home crowd. He is just the sixth American man to win consecutive world figure skating championships, joining a who's who of the sport's biggest names − Nathan Chen, Brian Boitano and Dick Button among them.
When asked on NBC afterwards how it felt to be Ilia Malinin in this moment, he smiled.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm tired."
It was yet another memorable performance from Malinin, the 20-year-old from Vienna, Virginia who will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics as the heavy favorite to win gold − and likely one of the most well-known stars on Team USA.
After six quads, including the famous quad axel, he also landed a backflip and his signature "raspberry twist." When the music stopped playing, he collapsed on the ice, laying motionless as the crowd continued to cheer.
"That should not be possible," Tara Lipinski said on NBC. "It's like he undoes gravity."
Malinin's total score of 318.56 put him a whopping 31 points ahead of Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, who finished second. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, who has recently been the only other skater to even be in the same ballpark as Malinin, finished a distant third, while American Jason Brown's emotional free skate boosted him to ninth. Andrew Torgashev, the other U.S. skater in the field, finished 22nd.
Malinin's title-clinching performance Saturday followed Madison Chock and Evan Bates' victory in ice dance earlier in the day, and Alysa Liu's stunning performance to win the women's singles competition one night earlier. It's the first time Team USA has had three winners at one edition of the world figure skating championships, which have had at least three disciplines since 1908.
Of those three American titles, Malinin's might come as the least surprising. But that doesn't make it any less impressive.
It's telling that, ahead of these world championships, the most anticipated part of Malinin's free skate is how many quads he would attempt. He entered Saturday as the only person in history to land six in one program, as well as the only one to attempt seven. Malinin is also the only skater to successfully land a quad axel − which, despite its name, actually features 4.5 rotations.
Malinin had repeatedly danced around questions about his free skate plans, instead stressing the changes in mentality and training approach that he's implemented since his win at nationals in January.
"At nationals, having that skate, I was not super happy with how it went," he said this week. "But I know some of the key points I really worked on improved. So I just went back home and really took those really bad places that weren’t comfortable or didn’t feel good to me and I really just worked on those most of the time."
Malinin has previously said he considers his most important figure skating rival to be himself. It's why, in his initial comments to NBC, he expressed excitement that he had finally landed a quad loop − the jump that had been giving him trouble this season.
He wants to be recognized not just for his composure and skill on the ice, but also the way that he is constantly improving and attacking his own weaknesses. Malinin's competitors and teammates have certainly taken notice.
"It’s not just his jumps, but I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression is getting better year by year," said Kagiyama, the one who dubbed him possibly "invicible."
"Technically, he's out of this world," added Brown.
"I think what is most remarkable to me, and obviously it’s all up to Ilia, but I just feel like he has more in him. That’s to me what I think is so mind-blowing."
Malinin's free skate put an exclamation mark on the first world championships to be held in the U.S. since 2016, and marked the start of what will be a pivotal offseason for the world's best figure skaters. The next Olympics will begin in about 10 months in Italy. Many skaters said this week that they have already started to think about their music selections for next season. The pressure and anticipation around the Games will start to build.
For Malinin, it's all an opportunity to bring more fans to figure skating, and to continue to push boundaries that were once thought unbreakable.
"I really want to push the sport to be one of the bigger sports again," he said.
Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ilia Malinin defends figure skating world championship title
Continue reading...
With every effortless quadruple jump Saturday at TD Garden, every elegant twist, every precise bend of his skate, a slightly different word came to mind: Inevitable.
Malinin defended his world title in mesmerizing and dominant fashion at the 2025 world championships in Boston, landing six quads during his free skate before cracking a smile in the middle of the ice and basking in the cheers from the home crowd. He is just the sixth American man to win consecutive world figure skating championships, joining a who's who of the sport's biggest names − Nathan Chen, Brian Boitano and Dick Button among them.
When asked on NBC afterwards how it felt to be Ilia Malinin in this moment, he smiled.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm tired."
It was yet another memorable performance from Malinin, the 20-year-old from Vienna, Virginia who will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics as the heavy favorite to win gold − and likely one of the most well-known stars on Team USA.
After six quads, including the famous quad axel, he also landed a backflip and his signature "raspberry twist." When the music stopped playing, he collapsed on the ice, laying motionless as the crowd continued to cheer.
"That should not be possible," Tara Lipinski said on NBC. "It's like he undoes gravity."
Malinin's total score of 318.56 put him a whopping 31 points ahead of Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, who finished second. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, who has recently been the only other skater to even be in the same ballpark as Malinin, finished a distant third, while American Jason Brown's emotional free skate boosted him to ninth. Andrew Torgashev, the other U.S. skater in the field, finished 22nd.
Malinin's title-clinching performance Saturday followed Madison Chock and Evan Bates' victory in ice dance earlier in the day, and Alysa Liu's stunning performance to win the women's singles competition one night earlier. It's the first time Team USA has had three winners at one edition of the world figure skating championships, which have had at least three disciplines since 1908.
Of those three American titles, Malinin's might come as the least surprising. But that doesn't make it any less impressive.
It's telling that, ahead of these world championships, the most anticipated part of Malinin's free skate is how many quads he would attempt. He entered Saturday as the only person in history to land six in one program, as well as the only one to attempt seven. Malinin is also the only skater to successfully land a quad axel − which, despite its name, actually features 4.5 rotations.
Malinin had repeatedly danced around questions about his free skate plans, instead stressing the changes in mentality and training approach that he's implemented since his win at nationals in January.
"At nationals, having that skate, I was not super happy with how it went," he said this week. "But I know some of the key points I really worked on improved. So I just went back home and really took those really bad places that weren’t comfortable or didn’t feel good to me and I really just worked on those most of the time."
Malinin has previously said he considers his most important figure skating rival to be himself. It's why, in his initial comments to NBC, he expressed excitement that he had finally landed a quad loop − the jump that had been giving him trouble this season.
He wants to be recognized not just for his composure and skill on the ice, but also the way that he is constantly improving and attacking his own weaknesses. Malinin's competitors and teammates have certainly taken notice.
"It’s not just his jumps, but I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression is getting better year by year," said Kagiyama, the one who dubbed him possibly "invicible."
"Technically, he's out of this world," added Brown.
"I think what is most remarkable to me, and obviously it’s all up to Ilia, but I just feel like he has more in him. That’s to me what I think is so mind-blowing."
Malinin's free skate put an exclamation mark on the first world championships to be held in the U.S. since 2016, and marked the start of what will be a pivotal offseason for the world's best figure skaters. The next Olympics will begin in about 10 months in Italy. Many skaters said this week that they have already started to think about their music selections for next season. The pressure and anticipation around the Games will start to build.
For Malinin, it's all an opportunity to bring more fans to figure skating, and to continue to push boundaries that were once thought unbreakable.
"I really want to push the sport to be one of the bigger sports again," he said.
Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ilia Malinin defends figure skating world championship title
Continue reading...
