Ilia Malinin puts Olympics behind him with historic World Championships short program

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Ilia Malinin puts Olympics behind him with historic World Championships short program

This was the Ilia Malinin everyone had expected to see on that fateful night at last month’s Winter Olympics in Milan.

The one who Thursday did a program with easily the hardest jumps of anyone in the field at the World Championships in Prague.

The one who nailed them all — quadruple flip, then triple Axel, then quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination — to command the short program and build a lead of nearly 10 points in his bid for a third straight world title in men’s singles.

Or maybe not quite that Ilia.

“This is another version of me, another part of me that just appeared out of nowhere, the person not trying to put so much expectations on me,” Malinin said Thursday. “This is me just wanting to enjoy doing what I love.”

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Changes in skating rules to limit jumps may make Malinin's record literally one for the ages

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Changes in skating rules to limit jumps may make Malinin's record literally one for the ages

There is an old saying in sports that goes, “Records are made to be broken.”

That may not apply to the world record men’s free skate score Ilia Malinin posted in winning the 2024 World Championships – as well as to several women’s world records – if the International Skating Union passes proposals limiting jumps at its biennial Congress this June in Las Vegas.

Should that happen, everyone should have their asterisks ready, as the ISU once again will have to create yet another chronological subdivision on its already confusing record lists.

While the formal agenda for the ISU Congress will not be made public until next week, the preliminary agenda includes the following changes to singles free skate programs recommended by the singles and pairs technical committee:

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Ilia Malinin takes figure skating to new heights while winning world title

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Ilia Malinin takes figure skating to new heights while winning world title

MONTREAL — Let the skating apotheosis of Ilia Malinin begin.

And why not? In four minutes Saturday night, the 19-year-old Virginian took his sport to athletic heights it had never seen before and took himself from third after the short program to the top of the awards podium at the world championships.

His free skate got the highest score in history. He landed an unprecedented six clean quadruple jumps, including his trademark quad Axel and two quads that opened combinations well into the second half of his program.

The crowd stood and roared when he landed his final jumping pass with about 20 seconds to go. The noise got louder and louder until it ended.

“It was amazing to hear the crowd go wild,” Malinin said.

When he finished, Malinin grabbed his head in his hands, as overwhelmed by what he had done as everyone who saw it at the Bell Centre was. He then collapsed in joy onto his back.

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