Malinin rebounds from Olympics at the worlds with a personal-best short program
PRAGUE (AP) — Ilia Malinin bounced back from misfiring at the Milan-Cortina Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday. With a new haircut Malinin presented all that the spectators expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena. He will go to Saturday’s free skate with a massive lead of more than nine points after a personal-best 111.
29 score in the short program. The performance showed the Olympic failure was behind him. Known as the “Quad God,” Malinin opened with a quad flip and a combination of quad lutz and a triple toe loop.
The only skater to have successfully landed a quad axel in competition performed only a triple version of his trademark jump. French skater Adam Siao Him Fa nailed a perfect quad toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop plus a quad salchow for 101. 85 points.
Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia was a surprise third after a personal best 96. 49. Japanese Olympic bronze medalist Shun Sato was fourth.
Countryman and favorite Yuma Kagiyama, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time worlds silver medalist, fell in a lutz attempt. Andrew Torgashev was seventh and fellow American Jacob Sanchez was 10th in his senior worlds debut. Malinin in familiar position Malinin helped the U.