Olympic favorite Ilia Malinin of the US aims to defend his figure skating world title

By Canadian Press on March 25, 2025.

BOSTON (AP) — Ilia Malinin was standing in the baggage claim area of Boston Logan International Airport when a young man politely came up beside him. He pulled out an envelope filled with dozens of 8×10 photographs of the world champion figure skater, and Malinin dutifully took a silver Sharpie and began signing.

It’s a wonder his wrist didn’t hurt by the end.

Other travelers waiting for their luggage paid little attention to Malinin, the 20-year-old American wunderkind who had arrived in town to defend his title this week. But should he win another — and an especially poignant one, just months after a plane crash in Washington, D.C., killed several members of his skating club — it is going to become much more difficult to go incognito.

“I have a few mixed feelings about that one,” said Malinin, the overwhelming favorite not just this week but for the upcoming Milano-Cortina Olympics. “Of course, I do feel pressure, since I’m one of the bigger names in skating. I have a bigger audience and a lot of people are looking to watch what I’m doing, and the things I’m doing on the ice.”

The things Malinin is doing often have never before been done.

He remains the only skater to land in competition the quad axel, the hardest jump in the sport, a 4 1/2-revolution tilt-a-whirl that is dizzying just to watch. And this week, Malinin just may try to land a record seven quads in a single free skate.

“That would be my ideal goal, to go for all those,” said Malinin, who has come close to pulling it off in competition, only to make a misstep somewhere in the program. “I’ll have to evaluate how I feel during practices and potentially during the warmup.”

Malinin’s jumping prowess — and the resulting base scores for his programs — gives him a massive advantage over the field. But should the two-time defending Grand Prix Final champion from Fairfax, Virginia, stumble through his short program Thursday or his free skate Saturday, there are plenty of contenders eager to dethrone him.

Topping the list are Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato of Japan. Kagiyama is the reigning Olympic silver medalist and current Japanese champion, while Sato finished third behind Malinin at the prestigious Grand Prix Final in December.

Then there’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who has been nearly as innovative as Malinin lately. The 20-year-old from Kazakhstan is the first to land the triple axel-quad toe loop combination and a sequence involving the triple axel and quad salchow.

Women’s competition

The world championships begin Wednesday with the women’s short program, where Kaori Sakamoto of Japan will try to become the first to win four consecutive titles since American Carol Heiss won five in a row in the 1950s and ’60s.

Sakamoto might not be the favorite, though. That is arguably Amber Glenn, the 25-year-old triple-axel queen from Texas, who has not been beaten in any competition this season. That includes triumphs at the Cup of China, Grand Prix de France and Grand Prix Final, along with her second consecutive U.S. championship, which she narrowly won over Alysa Liu.

The last American to win a world title was Kimmie Meissner in 2006.

Ice dance

Madison Chock and Evan Bates will begin their pursuit of a third consecutive world title with Friday’s rhythm dance, which this season is required to feature high-energy social dances and styles from the 1950s, ‘60s and ’70s.

The Americans won their second straight Grand Prix Final in December, but they were beaten by Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier — the reigning world silver medalists — at the recent Four Continents competition in South Korea.

Chock and Bates are targeting the Olympics next year, and worlds is an important step in the lead-up to the Games.

“We know competing at a home worlds on home soil, being Americans, is a really special feeling,” said Chock, who along with Bates took bronze at the 2016 worlds in Boston. “It’s really exciting and really warm for the U.S. skaters in particular.”

Pairs event

Deanna Stellato-Dudek, an American-born skater who recently became a Canadian citizen, and Maxime Deschamps will try to defend their first world championship beginning with the pairs short program Wednesday.

Their biggest rivals are Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who beat the Canadiens last month at Four Continents. The Japanese were the world champions two years ago before finishing second to Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps last season.

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany could upset both of those pairs. They’re the two-time and reigning Grand Prix Final champions and hold the season’s best score, set at the lower-level Nebelhorn Trophy last September.

“What we really want,” Deschamps said, “is to go out and be proud of what we’re doing, and that’ll put us where we need to be.”

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press