PRAGUE, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Reigning world champion Ilia Malinin of the United States responded to his Olympic disappointment in emphatic style, posting a career-high 111.29 points in the men's short program at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday.
Malinin, who faltered in the free skate and finished eighth overall at last month's Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, opened his short program with a quadruple flip followed by a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination, earning a technical elements score of 65.05 points. His total gave him a commanding lead over the rest of the 36-skater field.
France's Adam Siao Him Fa is in second place with 101.85 points, while Estonia's Aleksandr Selevko ranks third.
"It was pretty difficult coming back from the Olympics. I kept thinking about it 24/7, what I could have done differently, but in the end this was the outcome and I had to move on," Malinin said.
"That's all I thought about the whole program," he added.
In the pairs free skate, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won their country's first world title in the event in eight years, scoring 228.33 points overall. The Milan-Cortina Olympic bronze medalists held off Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, who took silver with 218.41 points. Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud claimed bronze.
China's Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang finished ninth with 184.90 points overall, including 122.21 in the free skate.
The competition continues Friday with the ice dance rhythm dance and the women's free skate. ■
