US figure skater Ilia Malinin, a rising star in the sport, has just shattered the men’s short program world record at the junior world championships, clocking 88.99 points to set the new benchmark on Thursday.
Ilia Malinin breaks the men’s short program world record of Shoma Uno
Malinin, who had his program set to “Billie Jean” performed by David Cook and choreographed by Irina Romanova surpassed the previous world record holder Shoma Uno, the reigning world champion who set a record of 84.87 points at the 2015 junior world championships.
A 2021 CS Cup of Austria bronze medalist, Malinin secured a silver at the 2022 U.S. national championships in January, finishing second behind Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Nathan Chen.
Nicknamed “QuadGod” for his dynamic leaping skill, Malinin hails from Vienna, Virginia, and is the son of Uzbek Olympic skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov. He finished ninth at the senior world championships in March and even though veteran skater Jason Brown preceded him to join the Beijing Winter Olympics-bound team, Malinin is now regarded as a favorite at the upcoming 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
“I liked and enjoyed my performance today, because I did everything I wanted to do well,” said Malinin, “Worlds (where he finished ninth) was a bit of a disappointment, because how I skated was not how I expected to skate.” [H/T japan-forward.com]
(more to follow)
