Ilia Malinin’s bounce-back world title marks fresh start for Quadg0d

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Ilia Malinin’s bounce-back world title marks fresh start for Quadg0d

The figure skating world is back on its axis.

The Quadg0d realigned it, reclaiming his position as the best men’s singles skater in the world with a performance that was merely excellent rather than otherworldly.

Ilia Malinin won his third straight world title Saturday in Prague by attempting just (?!?!) five quadruple jumps, none of them his singular quad Axel. He landed all five, the last with a slight penalty for being short of four rotations.

With a huge lead from the short program, Malinin knew he did not need to use his full array of quads in the long program, as he had at December’s Grand Prix Final, when he became the first person to land seven – and one of each type. After all, none of the other 23 men tried more than three.

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Figure skating officials weigh major changes in rules, schedule

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Figure skating officials weigh major changes in rules, schedule

nternational figure skating federation officials are weighing changes in competition rules that would alter the sport radically, including a potentially dramatic reduction in jumps in singles events.

And the federation’s governing board, the International Skating Union (ISU) council, has already supported significant changes to the figure skating season schedule and Grand Prix format to take effect in the 2027-28 season.

All this is still in discussion stages but moving forward. Under the new ISU Constitution, the 14-member council (rather than the biennial ISU Congress) has the “ultimate authority to adopt, amend or repeal” competition and event regulations and sports rules.

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Ilia Malinin tops himself - and skating's record books - once again

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Ilia Malinin tops himself - and skating's record books - once again

I was tempted to take the last column I wrote about Ilia Malinin, change a few numbers and use that to describe what Malinin did Saturday in the men’s free skate at the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan.

This is how that Nov. 2 story began:

“There comes a point in the careers of some extraordinary athletes when they are competing against only themselves and the record books.”

And Malinin beat the record books again, even after making the men’s competition more interesting when a sloppy short program left him 16 points behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama.

Malinin overcame that with a quadruple jump array that never before had been used successfully in a skating event. And that is worth a fresh look.

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Amber Glenn aims to defend Grand Prix Final title, free of fear

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Amber Glenn aims to defend Grand Prix Final title, free of fear

The old Amber Glenn might have come undone by what happened during the six-minute warmup for the short program at the Finlandia Trophy Grand Prix event.

Glenn competed in Finland just eight days after undergoing a root canal procedure. And she still was getting antibiotics for a sinus infection that had lingered since summer, with the medicine making her feel tired.

And then she popped her two attempts at her most difficult jump, the triple Axel, in the warmup. Popping – doing a single rotation rather than three - can shake any figure skater’s confidence.

About 45 minutes later, Glenn took the ice for her short program, opened by nailing the triple Axel and went on to win that phase of the competition with her season-best score.

“That was 100% the new Amber,” said Damon Allen, her coach, via telephone.

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Alysa Liu swept up in a glittering figure skating whirlwind

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Alysa Liu swept up in a glittering figure skating whirlwind

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Alysa Liu’s Olympic season began three months ago in Norwood, Massachusetts for a U.S. Figure Skating pre-season training camp.

Then came Bergamo, Italy for a Challenger Series competition. And Chongqing, China, 1,200 miles southwest of Beijing, for the Cup of China Grand Prix competition, followed by a (purposely) sleepless night and a flight the next day to New York City for the U.S. Olympic committee’s media days previewing the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Next was a little more than two weeks at her home in the San Francisco Bay area. And, in the latest episode of 'Where’s Alysa,' she wound up in the you-can’t-get-there-from-here north woods of New York state, specifically Lake Placid, for the Saatva Skate America Grand Prix event.

Ms. Liu heads back to the Bay Area with the Skate America gold medal, her first win at a Grand Prix event, and another long trip added to her Olympic season itinerary. This one is to Nagoya, Japan for the Grand Prix Final in two and one-half weeks.

Combined with a second place at Cup of China, her victory Sunday earned the reigning world champion one of the six singles spots in the Grand Prix Final women’s field.

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