Malinin rebounds to win
Ilia Malinin bounced back from a rough Milan Cortina Olympics to claim his third straight world figure‑skating title — landing multiple quadruple jumps and his signature backflip in the win. He’s publicly downplayed instant retirement, saying he’s still weighing his future after months of intense competition. (latimes.com) (newsweek.com)
Ilia Malinin clinched the men’s title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, on March 28, 2026, with the event staged at the O2 Arena. (isuresults.com) Malinin posted a career‑best short program of 111.29 points on March 26, 2026, to open the competition. (usfigureskating.org) He scored 218.11 in the free skate for a combined total of 329.40 points, winning by 22.73 points over the silver medalist. (isuresults.com) Malinin landed five quadruple jumps in the free skate — the most of any skater in the 24‑man field — a technical edge that reporters singled out after the program. (nbcsports.com) Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama took silver with 306.67 points and teammate Shun Sato earned bronze with 288.54 points, results that mirrored their Olympic placings. (isuresults.com) Malinin is the first man to win three straight World titles since Nathan Chen (2018, 2019, 2021), a run that places him in the same recent echelon of U.S. men’s champions. (cbsnews.com) Before the Olympics he had run a 14‑competition winning streak from December 2023 through January 2026, and his agent confirmed he would compete at Worlds in Prague (March 26–29, 2026) rather than retire immediately. (nbcsports.com)
