Arkansas Online

Malinin earns first U.S. title

Ilia

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Malinin won his first national men’s title on Sunday, delivering a 177.38 free skate for a total score of 287.74 on the final day of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Malinin landed three quadruple jumps and retained his 10-point lead over second-place finisher Jason Brown. Andrew Torgashev topped a strong weekend with a bronze medal, recording the highest segment score of the event with 177.78.

But Malinin’s gold-medal free skate was not without flaws. He did doubles on two planned quads midway through his program, then recovered with a triple lutz-triple axel-triple toe loop sequence for his final jumping pass. He also fell on his signature quad axel; he is the only skater in history to cleanly land the 41/2-revolution jump in competition.

“It’s hard to be a pioneer,” said Olympic champion Brian Boitano, who was the first U.S. skater to land a triple axel. “When there’s nobody else doing it, it’s a really hard situation. You have to push yourself.”

Brown’s 177.06 in the free skate gave him the silver medal. The 28-year-old veteran, who performed a routine to Josh Groban’s “The Impossible Dream,” had not competed since finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Going up against a slate of competitors with superior technical content, Brown needed to be all but perfect — and he got close. Opting not to attempt a quad, Brown was clean up until his final jump — a triple flip — but recovered with his trademark poise and earned a raucous ovation.

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2023-01-30T08:00:00.0000000Z

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