Ilia Malinin defended his world title inside a sold-out TD Garden in Boston on 29 March 2025, keeping an unbeaten run alive across two full seasons. His total score of 318.56 gave him a clear 31-point lead over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who finished on 287.47.
A short-program jolt, then six quads
The 20-year-old seized control early with an international personal best of 110.41 points in the short programme. The 13,000 home fans roared so loudly that Malinin was taken aback before his free skate even started.
He had filed a planned layout of one triple Axel and four quadruples. On the night he rewrote that plan on the fly, landing six quad jumps including the quad Axel and the quad loop that had escaped him all season. A popped quad lutz kept him from the seven-quad milestone he had chased, yet the free skate still scored 208.15.
Two world titles and a long unbeaten streak
The Boston gold made it back-to-back world crowns, following his record 333.76-point win in Montreal a year earlier. He remains unbeaten since the Grand Prix Final in December 2023, a stretch that already includes the first quad Axel in competition history and a Grand Prix Final free skate containing all six quad types.
Bronze went to Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who doubled an opening quad attempt and held the podium by fewer than three points over France’s Adam Siao Him Fa. The championships had opened with a tribute to 28 members of the Skating Club of Boston killed in a January air crash while travelling home from nationals.
“Really just have this mindset of skating for them now,” Malinin told reporters afterwards, dedicating the performance to the victims. “I was so glad I was able to work out the whole season to get to this moment. It means a lot to me.”
A quiet, powerful outing on home ice cemented the Virginian as the favourite for the Olympic winter ahead. The unbeaten record held, and the quad loop finally arrived when it mattered most.
