'Quad God' Wins Title, ISU World Figure Skating Championships Day 4 Results After Men's Free Skate

A little over a month after his bitterly disappointing finish in the 2026 Winter Olympics, Ilia Malinin rebounded in emphatic fashion.

The 21-year-old American earned his third straight gold in the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Malinin received a score of 218.11 in Saturday's free skate. He dazzled the crowd in Prague, landing his trademark quadruple axel as part of his spellbinding performance:

The "Quad God" posted an overall score of 329.40, putting him comfortably ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama from Japan.

Men's Final Results

1. Ilia Malinin, United States: 329.40

2. Yuma Kagiyama, Japan: 306.67

3. Shun Sato, Japan: 288.54

4. Stephen Gogolev, Canada: 281.04

5. Adam Siao Him Fa, France: 271.56

6. Aleksandr Selevko, Estonia: 270.42

7. Kevin Aymoz, France: 269.13

8. Daniel Grassl, Italy: 254.94

9. Lukas Britschgi, Switzerland: 251.90

10. Andrew Torgashev, United States: 249.41

The French pair of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron maintained their position after the rhythm dance and won the ice dance competition to bring Saturday's action to a close.

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had a score of 138.07 in the free dance, far outpacing the rest of the field, and scored 230.81 overall.

Ice Dance Results

1. Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron, France: 230.81

2. Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, Canada: 211.52

3. Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik, United States: 209.20

4. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson, Great Britain, 208.98

5. Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck, Spain: 206.37

6. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud, France: 203.77

7. Alisson Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius, Lithuania: 200.66

8. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko, United States: 200.56

9. Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha, Canada: 199.06

10. Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin, Georgia: 198.65

Malinin built a healthy lead in the short program. He led France's Adam Siao Him Fa by nearly 10 points. After what transpired in the Winter Games, nobody was taking anything for granted, though. It only took one minor mistake to derail his three-peat bid.

There were no such slips this time.

Malinin led off with a quad flip that earned a score of 15.24. That set the tone for a routine in which only one of his 12 elements had a negative grade of execution.

His best element was a quad toeloop and a triple toeloop, which garnered an 18.33 from the judges.

From the moment his free skate ended, he knew the gold was his.

Kagiyama made a big move up the leaderboard to capture his fourth silver in the World Championships. He was sixth after the short program but skated to a personal-best score of 212.87 on Saturday. That was more than 20 points better than compatriot Shun Sato.

Malinin will have to wait a long time before he gets his shot at Olympic redemption. Before that, he'll at least get the chance to enter rarefied air.

Scott Hamilton is the last men's skater to win four Worlds in a row (1981-84). As long as he's healthy enough to compete, a fourth straight gold will be the expectation for Malinin when the 2027 World Championships get underway in Tampere, Finland.