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At 19 years old, Ilia Malinin is dominating figure skating

Photo: Geoff Robins / AFP

American figure skater Ilia Malinin won his first world title with an impressive free skate. The 19-year-old showed six flawless quadruple jumps in Montreal, Canada, and was rewarded with a free skate record score and the gold medal. “That means a lot to me,” said the winner of the Grand Prix final, who has dominated the scene for two years. Last year he surprisingly only won bronze.

The past few weeks have been a mental and physical challenge for him due to several injuries. He was considering whether he should even travel to Montreal for the World Cup. »When I got on the ice, I didn't know what was going to happen. I could have the freestyle of my life or it could go completely wrong,” said Malinin. And further: “I’m in shock right now.”

In the final tally, Malinin was almost 24 points ahead of Yuma Kagiyama from Japan. Third place went to the French European champion Adam Siao Him Fa, who had finished in an almost hopeless 19th place after a failed short program.

“God of quadruple jumps”

Malinin once again lived up to his nickname as the “god of quadruple jumps”. Among the jumps with four revolutions each was the Axel. The quadruple Axel, which requires four and a half rotations because it is jumped forward and landed backwards, is considered the most difficult jump. Nobody except Malinin has faced him in a competition so far.

The fans at the Bell Center in Montreal roared as Malinin made one leap after another with seemingly effortless effort on the ice. At the end of the program to music from the “Succession” series, the American fell on the ice.

The US ice dancers Madison Chock/Evan Bates defended their world title with an expressive routine to “Time” by Pink Floyd. Silver went to the Canadians Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, who won the free skate but remained behind their competitors overall. The European champions Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri from Italy won bronze.

Nikita Starostin and the ice dancers Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan from Germany were only able to watch the final day of the World Championships from the stands: they had not qualified for the final.

ast/dpa/sid