BOSTON — Ilia Malinin skated a personal best short program to open his bid for a repeat world figure skating title. But he has familiar company near the top of the leaderboard.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama nearly skated a personal best as he bids for his first global title after previous Olympic and world silver medals.
Malinin tallied 110.41 points at TD Garden, edging Kagiyama by 3.32 going into Saturday’s free skate (8 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock).
Only Olympic gold medalists Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu have scored higher in a short program than the 20-year-old from Virginia did Thursday.
FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Results | Broadcast Schedule
“Stepping on the ice, I felt more nervous than usual,” said Malinin, who has won his last eight competitions dating to December 2023. “I didn’t understand why. I was like, OK, this is interesting, but once the music started playing, I got into a starting position, and I almost fell into that flow state, and it really just took me from there.”
Malinin landed a quadruple flip, triple Axel and a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination. He usually only attempts his trademark quad Axel in the free skate.
Every American men’s singles skater who won the world title the year before the Olympics went on to win Olympic gold the following year: Dick Button (1951), Hayes Alan Jenkins (1955), David Jenkins (1959), Scott Hamilton (1983), Evan Lysacek (2009) and Chen (2021).
But Kagiyama made the competition close going into Saturday. He also skated clean with a quad toe-triple toe combination, a quad Salchow and a triple Axel.
While Malinin owns a clear advantage in jump difficulty (36.27 points to 32.2 in base value), Kagiyama had the edge in artistry (47.06 to 46.20 in program components).
In their last head-to-head at December’s Grand Prix Final, Kagiyama outscored Malinin in the free skate by 1.6 points. Still, Kagiyama remains a bit in awe of the man nicknamed the “quadgod.”
At last year’s worlds, Malinin trailed Kagiyama (and since-retired countryman Shoma Uno) after the short program. Then he won the free skate with the best collection of jumps in history, and the title by a comfortable 24.11 points.
“It’s not just his jumps,” Kagiyama said Thursday through a translator while sitting a few feet from Malinin at a press conference. “But I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression, is getting better year by year. So I’m starting to think he’s invincible.”
Malinin leaned over and grinned, then nodded to Kagiyama in appreciation.
Less than an hour earlier, Malinin stayed near the ice after his short program, the penultimate skate of the session. He watched the last skater to go — Kagiyama.
“It was very uplifting for me,” Malinin said. “It really shows how he’s been working and improving. Same as me. I’ve been working, improving. We always have this friendly rivalry between each other.”
Fellow Americans Andrew Torgashev and Jason Brown sit eighth and 12th, respectively.
Worlds continue later Thursday with the pairs’ free skate, live on Peacock starting at 6:15 p.m. ET and USA Network at 8.
2025 World Figure Skating Championships Results
Men’s Short Program
1. Ilia Malinin (USA) — 110.41
2. Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) — 107.09
3. Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) — 94.77
4. Kevin Aymoz (FRA) -- 93.63
5. Shun Sato (JPN) -- 91.26
6. Nika Egadze (GEO) -- 90.39
7. Nikolaj Memola (ITA) -- 87.89
8. Andrew Torgashev (USA) -- 87.27
9. Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) -- 87.22
10. Cha Jun-Hwan (KOR) -- 86.41
12. Jason Brown (USA) -- 84.72
