Ilia Malinin finished with a total score of 333.31 on Sunday to secure his third straight national title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kan.
Malinin put together a stunning free skate, matching a record with six quadruple jumps while also becoming the first skater to land a quad Axel. He nearly had a seventh quad, but a fall spoiled it.
“It wasn’t the perfect program that I exactly wanted,” Malinin told NBC Sports. “But I think it really gives me a good, solid start of what is working in this program and some things I might need to take time to really develop or take away from the program.
“One of the things I would say is maybe that I’m still not at my full potential yet, and that there’s a lot bigger of a limit that I can go for. So I think that’s something to look forward to worlds.”
Malinin ended up well ahead of second-place finisher Andrew Torgashev, who posted a total score of 286.49. It marked the third-biggest win in the history of the U.S. Championships across all events under the current scoring system, which has been utilized for 20 years.
Camden Pulkinen rounded out the top three with a 252.92.
–Field Level Media
