World champion Ilia Malinin won his third straight Skate America title Sunday, adjusting on the fly after a mid-routine mistake to hold off France’s Kevin Aymoz at the first Grand Prix event of the season.
Self-styled “Quad God” Malinin doubled one of the four planned quadruple jumps in his free skate — then calmly added an extra quadruple Salchow-triple Axel late in his routine to score 190.43 points for a winning total of 290.12.
“I’m completely shocked,” Malinin told broadcaster NBC. “I don’t know what just happened. I just went full auto-pilot through there.”
The 19-year-old electrified the crowd with a backflip in his closing choreography sequence, the new move now allowed since the International Skating Union ended its longtime ban on “somersault style” elements prior to the season.
Malinin became the first three-time Skate America champion since Nathan Chen won four titles in a row from 2017 through 2020.
He needed to pull out all the stops after French veteran Aymoz delivered a powerful free skate to rocket from fourth to the top of the standings.
The 27-year-old, who ended his disappointing 2023-24 campaign early to focus on his mental health, was overcome with emotion after a stunning free skate that included a pair of quadruple jumps along with a spectacular triple-Axel, double-Axel combination.
Aymoz was in tears again as his career best free skate score of 190.84, for a total of 282.88, was revealed.
“I think it was a pretty challenging moment for me,” Malinin said. “Stepping on the ice I felt more nervous than usual. That might have played a part in the whole programme.”
Japan’s Kao Miura, who trailed Malinin by just 15-hundredths of a point after the short programme, finished third with a total of 278.67 points.
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson pulled off an upset in ice dance, edging two-time reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates for gold by a fraction of a point.
Fear and Gibson were surprise leaders after rhythm dance after an uncharacteristic fall left Chock and Bates trying to fight back.
The Americans were the epitome of cool in a new free dance to jazz standard “Take Five”.
They had the top score in the free dance, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Fear and Gibson, whose sparkling performance gave them a total of 206.38 points to 205.63 for Chock and Bates.
Spain’s Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck were third on 189.44.
The six-leg Grand Prix series continues with Skate Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia, next Friday through Sunday.
