BOSTON — Ilia Malinin’s top rival said this week that he’s starting to think the self-proclaimed ‘Quad God’ is invincible. But with every effortless quadruple jump Saturday at TD Garden, every elegant twist, every precise bend of his skate, a slightly different word came to mind: Inevitable.
Malinin defended his world title in mesmerizing and dominant fashion at the 2025 world championships in Boston, landing six quads during his free skate before laying in the middle of the ice, then basking in the cheers from the home crowd. He is just the sixth American man to win consecutive world figure skating championships, joining a who’s who of the sport’s biggest names − Nathan Chen, Brian Boitano and Dick Button among them.
When asked on NBC afterwards how it felt to be Ilia Malinin in this moment, he smiled.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’m tired.’
It was yet another memorable performance from Malinin, the 20-year-old from Vienna, Virginia, who will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics as the heavy favorite to win gold − and likely one of the most-hyped stars on Team USA.
Over the span of 4 minutes, 13 seconds, Malinin landed a quad flip, quad axel, quad lutz, quad loop, quad toe loop and quad salchow, in that order. Then he did his signature element, a side-winding aerial that he’s dubbed a ‘raspberry twist,’ and a backflip for good measure. On the NBC broadcast, the exasperation was audible.
‘That should not be possible,’ Tara Lipinski said. ‘It’s like he undoes gravity.’
Malinin’s total score of 318.56 put him a whopping 31 points ahead of Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who finished second. It was the figure-skating equivalent of a playoff blowout. And yet, Malinin seemed almost indifferent to the final result. He was mostly thrilled that he had landed his first quad loop of the season, and annoyed that the seven-quad program had once again eluded him.
‘That seven-quad layout, for me, it’s really my ideal layout,’ Malinin said. ‘And I really want to nail this and have it be comfortable, effortless. I really want it so I can have another history marking.’
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who has been the only other skater at recent competitions to even be in the same ballpark as Malinin, finished a distant third, while American Jason Brown’s emotional free skate boosted him to ninth. Andrew Torgashev, the other U.S. skater in the field, finished 22nd.
Malinin’s title-clinching performance Saturday followed Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ victory in ice dance earlier in the day, and Alysa Liu’s stunning performance to win the women’s singles competition one night earlier. It’s the first time Team USA has ever had three winners at the same edition of the world figure skating championships, which have had at least three disciplines since 1908.
Of those three American titles, Malinin’s might come as the least surprising. But that doesn’t make it any less impressive.
It’s telling that, ahead of these world championships, the most compelling question around Malinin’s title defense was how many quads he would attempt. He entered Saturday as the only person in history to land six in one program, as well as the only one to attempt seven. Malinin is also the only skater to successfully land a quad axel − which, despite its name, actually features 4.5 rotations.
Malinin repeatedly danced around questions this week about his free skate plans, instead stressing the changes in mentality and training approach that he’s implemented since nationals in January − which he also won in dominant fashion. He has said that he considers himself to be his chief rival in figure skating.
‘I really like to try these difficult quad-quad combinations – really kind of play around with how many different quads I can put in a single combination,’ Malinin said. ‘I find joy and I kind of find happiness just trying to go for these (big combinations), trying to make new ones.”
He wants to be recognized not just for his composure and skill on the ice, but also the way that he is constantly improving and attacking his own weaknesses. His competitors and teammates have certainly taken notice.
‘It’s not just his jumps, but I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression is getting better year by year,’ said Kagiyama, the one who dubbed him possibly ‘invincible.’
‘Technically, he’s out of this world,’ added Brown.
‘I think what is most remarkable to me, and obviously it’s all up to Ilia, but I just feel like he has more in him. That’s to me what I think is so mind-blowing.’
Malinin’s free skate put an exclamation mark on the first world championships to be held in the U.S. since 2016, and marked the start of what will be a pivotal offseason for the world’s best figure skaters. The next Olympics will begin in about 10 months in Italy. Many skaters said this week that they have already started to think about their music selections for next season. Before too long, the pressure and anticipation around the Games will start to build.
Malinin figured he might give himself 48 hours away from the rink following Sunday’s exhibition gala. Then he’s off to Japan, which will be the first stop in a series of skating shows that he said he loves to have as a creative outlet, a non-competitive space where he can really express himself. Then maybe some time off. Then the game-planning for Milan-Cortina begins.
It’s all an opportunity to bring more fans to figure skating, to finally land his seven quads, to continue to break boundaries that were once thought unbreakable.
‘I really want to push the sport to be one of the bigger sports again,’ he said.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.
This story was updated with new information.