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American Ilia Malinin banished the ghosts of his disastrous Olympics on Thursday, skating into the lead after the men’s short program at the world championships in Prague, a month after a shock eighth-place finish in Milan.
The 21-year-old “Quad God” opened with a huge quadruple flip, followed up with a quadruple Lutz, and delighted the crowd with a backflip to record a personal best 111.29 points, putting him on track for a third successive world title.
After struggling to an eighth-place finish at Milano Cortina 2026, American Ilia Malinin skated to a personal best score of 111.29 points to win the men’s short program, at the ISU figure skating world championships in Prague.
Adam Siao Him Fa of France heads into Saturday’s free program in second place with a score of 101.85, and Estonian Aleksandr Selevko is a surprise third with 96.49.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, the shock Olympic champion in Milan, is not competing at the world championships.
Canada’s Stephen Gogolev was fifth after a personal-best score of 94.38 points in the short program.
After finishing in fifth place at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev skated to a new personal best score of 94.38 points in the men’s short program, to sit in fifth place at the ISU figure skating world championships in Prague.
Olympic silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was sixth on Thursday after a fall on his triple Axel.
Malinin had arrived at the event with redemption in mind after a collapse at the Olympics he said was caused by pressure and the magnitude of the moment.
He had been overwhelming favourite for gold in Milan, but crumbled under the weight of expectations, and his free program unraveled in stunning fashion.
Malinin’s short program score on Thursday was just shy of American Nathan Chen’s world record of 113.97 set in 2022.
The pairs free program is scheduled for later on Thursday.
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