ANGERS, France (AP) — Ilia Malinin proved just how far ahead of his figure skating rivals he is ahead of the Winter Olympics. He says he still has a “lot more” room to improve.
The world champion from the United States swept to victory at the opening Grand Prix of the season by an almost-unheard of 40-point margin.
Malinin, nicknamed the “Quad God”, landed five quadruple jumps in his free skate. A slight under-rotation on one was the only obvious flaw, but he felt he could do much more.
“I think I’ll be improving a lot more,” he said. “I think I can take away a lot from this competition. It was such fun and I’m really looking forward to the future season.”
It took Malinin’s unbeaten streak to nearly two years since he was beaten by Adam Siao Him Fa at the same event, the Grand Prix de France, in November 2023.
Malinin’s total score of 321 points Sunday was far ahead of Siao’s 280.95 for second place. Even so, there was some encouragement for Siao, who recovered from fifth after the , though extending his streak of three consecutive wins at his home Grand Prix never seemed possible.
Nika Egadze of Georgia was a distant third on 259.41, with European champion Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland 10 points further back in fourth.
Japan’s Kao Miura came into the free skate in third but plummeted to 10th after falling twice, and his compatriot Tatsuya Tsuboi dropped from fourth to seventh.
New pair wins ice dance
France’s Olympic ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron and his new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won their first Grand Prix competition together after having been third following Saturday’s rhythm dance.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron scored a total of 211.02 to drop overnight leaders Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain into second on 210.24. Lithuania’s Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius were third on 201.05.
“It’s really heartwarming to be at home with this amazing crowd and this amazing partner,” Cizeron said. “We were really looking forward to doing our debut here and it couldn’t have gone better.”
The Grand Prix de France is the first of building to a final in December. It’s a key test for skaters eyeing medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
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