GRENOBLE, France — Ilia Malinin, the reigning world champion, has made significant progress towards defending his title in the figure skating Grand Prix Final, showcasing an impressive 12-point advantage after the short program on Friday.
The 20-year-old American athlete executed a nearly perfect routine that included a quadruple flip, a triple axel, and a quad lutz-triple toeloop combination, achieving a score of 105.43 points, just shy of his personal best.
In a much distant second place was Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, the Olympic silver medalist, who scored 93.49 points after a fall during his initial quad lutz while performing to “The Sound of Silence.”
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov secured the third position with a score of 91.26 points. He participated in the competition due to Adam Siao Him Fa from France withdrawing because of an ankle injury. Shaidorov made a strong impression by successfully landing two quadruple jumps during his routine set to the “Dune” soundtrack.
In front of a home crowd, France’s Kevin Aymoz faced a challenging evening, stumbling on his first two jumps, which led to him finishing at the bottom with a score of 68.82.
In the pairs event, Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin triumphed in retaining their Grand Prix Final title despite facing an early challenge when Hase lost her balance on landing a jump combination. They recovered splendidly to achieve a total score of 218.10 points, outpacing the competition.
Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara managed to hold onto the second spot with 206.71 points, battling off strong contenders from Georgia, where Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava finished third with a score of 205.78.
Hase expressed her relief, stating, “This time was for sure much harder than last year. Last year we didn’t come with any expectation, and this year as defending champion it’s for sure more pressure, so we just are so happy that we made it.”
They have now become the first pair in over a decade to win consecutive Grand Prix Final championships since the German duo Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy accomplished the feat in 2012.
In the ice dance category, American skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed the top spot with a score of 87.73 in the rhythm dance, surpassing Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who scored 83.12, with Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson following close behind on 82.31. The ice dance event will culminate on Saturday.
