Ilia Malinin, 19, of Vienna, will defend his title at the International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating. He became the first man to sweep both Skate America and Skate Canada in the same season in 25 years.
He won gold at the Skate Canada International in Halifax, Canada, over the weekend, taking gold by more than 40 points in the competition.
During the short program on Saturday and the free skate on Sunday, Malinin landed a total of five quadruple jumps, racking up 301.82 points, besting runner-up Sun Sato of Japan by 40.22.
Sato had 261.16 points, and third-place finisher Cha Jun-Hwan of Korea had 260.31.
The win is Malinin’s sixth Grand Prix medal and he’s undefeated this year, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
Russian Alexei Yagudin is the last man to win back-to-back Skate America and Skate Canada competitions, and that was in 1999, according top NBC Sports.
Feature image courtesy NBC Sports/YouTube
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