MONTREAL – The United States had a brilliant outing on March 23 at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada, with Ilia Malinin claiming his first title, while duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates successfully defended their ice dance crown.
The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god”, who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe.
He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn 227.79 points for the free skate for a 333.76 championship total.
With the crowd at Bell Centre on their feet by the end of his routine, Malinin, who was third after a short programme he “wasn’t happy about”, acknowledged the cheers then collapsed to the ice before skating off to await the scores.
“I’m in shock right now,” said Malinin, who said this week he had recently battled injuries and a dip in confidence.
“The past couple of weeks have been so hard for me to train and it was even a thought for me that I wouldn’t be able to compete at the world championships.
“And I’m just so glad I was able to achieve it here.
“There was a little voice in my head saying ‘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 muscle memory and the training you’ve been through’.
“I am very happy to be here. In the last few weeks I have had a lot of problems, mentally and physically, but seeing you all here has helped me to keep going and to deliver the programme.”
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama took silver, 24.11 points behind Malinin, and France’s Adam Siao, who jumped from 19th place after the March 21 short programme, finished third.
Earlier, American duo Chock and Bates, who are getting married later in 2024, earned 222.20 points from the March 22 rhythm dance and March 23 free dance to prevail by 2.52 points over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, the 2023 bronze medallists.
“It was incredibly fun to perform today,” Chock said.
“We’re so happy to finish the season with a strong skate. We’re so happy to be in our adopted home town of Montreal.”
The Italian pair of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who were in second place after the rhythm dance portion of the competition, settled for third with 216.52 points.
Chock and Bates were members of the US Olympic figure skating team who learnt in January that they would receive a long-overdue gold medal, after Russia’s Kamila Valieva was banned for committing an anti-doping rule violation that rattled the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
REUTERS, AFP
