Malinin won the men’s figure skating world title

MONTREAL:

American Ilia Malinin performed six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate on Saturday to capture his first world figure skating title.

The 19-year-old nicknamed the ‘Quad God’, who is the only skater to land a quad Axel in the competition, dazzled with a series of stunningly executed jumps, starting with his quad Axel and including a quad Lutz combined with a triple flip . and quad toe loop combined with triple toe.

She added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to score 227.79 on the free skate for a championship total of 333.76 points.

With the crowd at Montreal’s Bell Center on its feet by the end of his routine, Malinin, who was third after a short program he was “not happy about,” acknowledged the cheers and then fell to the ice before skating to wait for the scores. .

“I’m in shock right now,” said Malinin, who said this week he had recently struggled with injuries and a dip in confidence.

“The last two weeks have been so difficult for me to train and it was even a thought for me that I wouldn’t be able to compete in the World Championships.

“And I’m very happy that I was able to achieve that here,” he said.

“There was a little voice in my head ‘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 are capable of and stick to your muscles. memory and the training you went through”.

Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan took the silver with a total of 309.65 points. His free skate included three quadruple jumps, but he fell after landing a triple Axel.

European champion Adam Siao Him Fa of France won a stunning bronze, moving up from 19th place after the short program with a free skate that included four quadruple jumps to give him a total of 294.39 points.

Two-time defending champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who led after the short program, endured a devastating free skate. He fell on his opening quadruple jump and botched two more landings.

He was sixth in the free skate to finish fourth with 280.85 points and said that despite his inability to “rub” it was an “exciting experience overall”.

American duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates successfully defended their ice dancing crown to seal an undefeated season.

Montreal-based 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 hometown of Montreal — the support has been incredible.”

Leading the way after posting a season-best 90.08 in Friday’s rhythm dance, Chock and Bates edged out Gilles and Poirier in Saturday’s free dance.

However, the Canadian duo’s tally was not enough to dislodge Chock and Bates from the top spot, leaving the Americans to celebrate their second straight world title.

Chuck and Bates were linked in 2011 and engaged to be married later this year.

This year, they won Grand Prix events on home ice and in Finland, took the Grand Prix Final and also captured their fifth US crown.