Malinin’s historic 3‑peat
Ilia Malinin clinched a third straight World Figure Skating title in Prague—an accomplishment not seen since Nathan Chen’s run—cementing his dominance at the sport’s elite level. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won her fourth world crown in what reports call her final elite performance, capping a landmark exit. (nbcsports.com) (bbc.com)
Ilia Malinin posted a 329.40 total in Prague, finishing 22.73 points clear of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama while Shun Sato took bronze with 288.54. (nbcsports.com) Malinin landed five quadruple jumps in the free skate and deliberately omitted his signature quadruple Axel, landing all five quads cleanly as part of a lower-risk plan after the Olympics. (nbcsports.com) He opened the event with a career-best short program of 111.29 and had entered Worlds on the back of a 14‑competition winning streak that ran through January 2026. (usfigureskating.org) The last men’s skater to string together three consecutive world titles was Nathan Chen, who won in 2018, 2019 and 2021 after the 2020 event was cancelled. (espn.com) Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto set a personal‑best 238.28 in Prague, beating teammate Mone Chiba by 9.81 points while Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone moved onto the women’s podium for bronze. (nbcsports.com) Sakamoto had announced her retirement before the season and confirmed Prague as her final elite competition, a farewell witnessed by more than 14,000 spectators at the O2 Arena. (forbes.com)
