Ilia Malinin captured his first world title in Montreal, posting 333.76 points — the highest total ever recorded at a World Championships. He arrived uncertain he could compete and left as the sport's new benchmark.
A free skate that rewrote the ceiling
Malinin sat third after the short programme, trailing two-time champion Uno Shoma. He opened his free skate with the quad Axel, the jump no other man has landed in competition, and did not pause. Over four minutes he executed six clean quadruple jumps, building a lead no one could touch.
His quad Lutz–Euler–triple flip combination alone earned 23.30 points. When he landed his final pass with twenty seconds to go, the Bell Centre crowd stood and roared. A free skate of 227.79 carried him past Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma by a margin of 24.11 points.
A crown left vacant since 2021
Shoma fell on his opening quad and faded to fourth. Adam Siao Him Fa rocketed from nineteenth after the short to claim bronze, but no one could match Malinin’s athletic range. His total sits second across all competitions, just behind Nathan Chen’s 335.30.
Malinin became the first American man to hold the world crown since Chen’s third straight title in 2021. The win extended an unbeaten season and turned the teenager from quad Axel pioneer into a complete champion.
"I'm in shock right now," Malinin told reporters afterward. "There was a little voice in my head 'no matter what, you have to keep fighting.'"
He had come through weeks of strain to deliver one relentless, record-breaking free skate. The title had been waiting three years for an American — Malinin claimed it on his own terms.
