Bestemyanova: “Malinin is a unique skater. He was head and shoulders above everyone, he skated like a god.

Olympic ice dancing champion Natalia Bestemyanova told that the American figure skater Ilya Malinin is a unique athlete, and in the free program at the World Championships he stood above all others.

Malinin won the first world championship title at the singles tournament in Montreal, Canada, by performing six quadruple jumps during his free program, including a 4.5 Axel. The American also set a world record for most points scored on the second day of competition (227.79), beating Nathan Chen’s score (224.92) from 2019. At the same time, Chen continues to hold the world record for the total – 335.3 points. Malinin, 19, scored 333.76 in two rentals.

— The rest of the skaters, compared to Malinin, didn’t skate very well. Ilya was head and shoulders above everyone, he jumped a quadruple Axel and skated like a god. The quadruple axel is a unique jump that only Malinin has performed in competition. Yes, a few weeks ago Vladislav Dikidzhi posted a video in which he also performed a quadruple axel, but it was in training. So far, only Malinin has achieved this jump in competition. “He’s a unique skater,” Bestemyanova told .

The silver medal of the men’s tournament at the World Championships was won by the Japanese Yuma Kagiyama (309.65), the bronze medal of the tournament went to the Frenchman Adam Xiao Him Fa (284.39).

Malinin was born in the United States to the family of figure skaters Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skornyakov, who competed internationally for Uzbekistan.