"Quad god" Ilia Malinin wins 3rd consecutive world skating championship title

Ilia Malinin is back on the top of the podium. Six weeks after a disastrous skate led to the Olympic gold-medal favorite placing eighth in Milan , the "quad god" reeled off one huge jump after another, and a backflip for good measure, to retain his world championship title for the third year running. Malinin shouted and punched the air with relief after finishing the skate.

He also threw his hands up in the air after his score was read out. Malinin praised the crowd's support, saying: "It was really challenging, really hard but with you guys I was able to make it through. " His aim, he added, had simply been to get through the free skate "in one piece.

" Malinin previously told CBS News that he didn't want to dwell on his disappointing Olympic performance. "Everything happens for a reason," the 21-year-old told CBS News in February. He said he has to believe that "you learn a lot more from failure than you do winning.

" Malinin is the first skater to win three consecutive men's world titles since fellow American Nathan Chen , who achieved the feat in 2018, 2019 and 2021 after the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Skating last after leading the short program, just as he did in Milan, Malinin landed five high-scoring quadruple jumps but not his pioneering quad axel , a jump he didn't attempt at the Olympics. Malinin scored 218.