Ilia Malinin rebounds from Olympics, wins gold at 2026 World Figure Skating Championships – The Athletic
The program, this time, culminated with a guttural roar. Ilia Malinin pushed aside elegance, artistry, subtlety. This moment called for an expression of raw triumph.
The same routine that came undone at the Winter Olympics, the same jumps he couldn’t land a month ago, went without a damaging hitch Saturday. It wasn’t the flawlessness he’s produced before. But the performance was more than enough to capture gold at the 2026 International Skating Union World Championships in Czechia.
Even more important than his third consecutive world championship was how the composure that escaped him a month ago succumbed to the will of the world’s best figure skater.
Not nearly as many eyes saw him in Prague as did in Milan. His latest success won’t be as viral as his last failure. But as evidenced by Malinin’s uncontained excitement following his free skate, this performance wasn’t about the audience inside O2 Arena. It wasn’t about the millions of fans who’ve fallen in love with the 21-year-old Virginian star. This competition wasn’t about proving himself to the world that latched onto his hype.
This moment was for Malinin himself. The fulfillment from this performance sprang from a well within.
And as Malinin jumped joyously with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who was relegated to second by Malinin’s free skate, the significance of Malinin’s bounceback was clear: The sport needs the Quad God on his game.
Winning worlds again serves as a first step on his redemptive climb. A four-year journey before his next shot at the Olympic glory he fumbled away in Italy.
But the road to French Alps 2030 — technically Nice, France, for figure skaters — won’t just be about his arsenal of athletic feats.
It will be about his ability to endure pressure; How he balances the demands of his fame, the rewards of his magnetism, and the difficulty of his programs.
That’s why it didn’t matter Saturday that he didn’t land all seven of his quadruple jumps. He even under-rotated the quad axel — the most difficult jump in figure skating that only Malinin has done in competition — into a triple axel. It was the first of four jumps he popped, including three quads.
He still won by more than 22 points after a personal-best short program score of 111.29 on Thursday and Saturday’s 218.11 free-skate score.
American Andrew Torgashev finished 10th, a drastic improvement from his 22nd-place finish at the 2025 worlds.
Kagiyama, the Japanese skater who took silver in Milan, applied pressure with the best free skate of his life, scoring 212.87 to jump from sixth after the short program to first with five skaters remaining — a field that did not include Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov, who skipped this year’s worlds. Kagiyama remained in first when Malinin took the ice, the final skater of the competition. This wasn’t Olympic pressure, but certainly enough to measure for improvement.
Jumps weren’t what held him back in Italy. It was his lack of steeliness. Mettle that couldn’t manage the moment.
He couldn’t stop himself from spiraling in Milan. In Prague, the spiral never seemed possible. Even with a few execution issues, Malinin maintained control. This quality of performance was all he needed in Italy, and he would have an individual Olympic medal.
Apparently, with his new haircut comes a new sense of authority. Malinin displayed an awareness in his choices during those important four minutes. He knew when to settle. How to focus on the next element. How to maintain positivity. In a month’s time, he looked clearly more capable mentally, which bodes well for the possibilities when he’s 25 with even more experience.
This part had to happen first. Malinin had to get back on the ice, under the weight of real stakes, and look like himself again. He did that in Prague.
