Malinin wins 2nd US title
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Entering the final day of the U.S Figure Skating Championships, there was little anyone in the men’s field could do to catch up to short program leader Ilia Malinin, who had built an almost 20-point lead.
In the final competitive skate on Sunday at Nationwide Arena, Malinin hit a quad axel and a quad lutz with his first two moves of his free skate, which basically locked down the gold medal. Cleanly landing one more quad jump shortly after ensured Malinin his second consecutive U.S. championship. Even a fall and a few missteps within his routine weren’t enough to keep him off the top spot on the podium.
With a score of 294.35, Malinin was far from perfect, but the 19-year-old chose to look at the positives.
For him, that includes getting through nationals while dealing with an issue caused by the boot of his skate.
“With the issues I had, I’m still very happy with how I’ve improved in other things like my components,” Malinin said. “I’ve definitely seen a huge improvement with the cleanliness of my program, connecting to the audience, connecting to the judges.”
It was a tight race between the next four skaters, who were vying for the silver and bronze medals. Less than two points separated second-place Maxim Naumov and fifth-place Camden Pulkinen after Friday’s skates.
Knowing this, Pulkinen worked hard to put on a free skate performance good enough to get him on the podium. The 23-year-old fell short of second place as Jason Brown claimed sliver with a score of 264.50, but Pulkinen earned bronze with a 262.33.