Ilia Malinin became the first figure skater to land all six types of quadruple jumps in one program (two under-rotated) in repeating as Grand Prix Final champion and extending a yearlong win streak.
Malinin, a 20-year-old from Virginia, landed a quad flip, Axel, loop, Lutz (after falling on his first try), toe loop and Salchow in an unprecedented free skate in Grenoble, France, on Saturday.
He threw in a backflip, then finished the four-minute program sprawled on the ice. He breathed heavily and stared at the roof amid a cacophony of cheers.
The reigning world champion totaled 292.12 points between Friday’s short program and Saturday’s free skate. He prevailed by 10.34 points over Olympic and world silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan.
GRAND PRIX FINAL: Full Results
The U.S. won three of the four Grand Prix Final senior titles, and both singles titles, for the first time. Amber Glenn and ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates also took gold. Highlights air Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
The Grand Prix Final, the most exclusive event in figure skating, features the top six per discipline from the fall Grand Prix Series and is often a preview of the following March’s world championships.
Already the only skater to land a clean quad Axel, Malinin for the first time incorporated every quad into one program. His seven quad attempts in one skate were also a record, according to Skatingscores.com.
It was not a clean performance. All seven jumping passes received negative grades of execution and were shy of full rotation, though no quads were downgraded to triples.
Kagiyama had a higher-scoring free skate with three quads, but couldn’t overcome an 11.94-point deficit from the short.
“I had this idea and this goal that I wanted to achieve here, and I was able to blow it out of the park,” Malinin said. He added later, “My main goal was to just try this new element layout just to see how I can manage it for the future competitions.”
Malinin’s win streak — now seven competitions in a row — began at last year’s Grand Prix Final.
He has taken the mantle as the world’s top skater following Nathan Chen, who stepped away from competition after winning the 2022 Olympics, and Japan’s Shoma Uno, the 2022 and 2023 World champion who retired after placing fourth at worlds last season.
Next, Malinin will bid for a three-peat at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January.
