U.S. figure skating star Ilia Malinin dominated the field and captured men’s gold at Skate Canada International on Sunday.
The reigning world champion received a standing ovation for his vampire-themed free program — which included a backflip — and won by more than 40 points to claim a Grand Prix title on consecutive weekends.
Malinin also won Skate America in Allen, Texas, last Sunday.
“I’m pretty happy with my skate today,” Malinin said. “It was very tough doing these two back-to-back Grand Prix, and overall I’m pretty satisfied with my performance and how I was able to manage this.”
The 19-year-old still scored 301.82 total points. Japan’s Shun Sato (261.16) won silver while South Korea’s Junhwan Cha (260.31) took bronze.
WATCH | Malinin glides to men’s title at Skate Canada:
With a score of 301.82 Ilia Malinin was dominant in his free program Sunday capturing the Skate Canada men’s title.
Malinin’s only mistake was on a quad loop during the fourth segment of his program.
“I’m a little bit bummed out with the loop,” he said. “But it is what it is. When it happened I just had to push it aside for now and continue with the rest of the program.
“I’m always challenging myself. That’s my main competitor, is just being able to fight through a program start to finish. Of course my goal was to go for that quad loop here as well, but it didn’t happen.”
Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., scored 222.49 as the top Canadian, finishing seventh in the 12-skater field.
WATCH | Rakic skates to 7th-place finish in Halifax:
Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., finished in seventh place with a score of 222.49 at Skate Canada in Halifax Sunday.
“There’s proof in my improvements, getting this score,” Rakic said. “Last year or two years ago, I would’ve had to have been absolutely perfect. Here I’ve had mistakes and missed elements, that means I can get even more points.”
Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev (216.84) fell to ninth after placing fifth in the short program.
Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., withdrew for medical reasons after finishing last in the short program Saturday.
Later on Sunday, ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier compete in the free dance, the final event at Skate Canada. Gilles and Poirier ranked first after the free skate, ahead of fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha.
Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps repeated as pairs champions Saturday, while three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan won gold in the women’s title.
The Grand Prix, the top series in figure skating, consists of six events and a final. Next up is the Grand Prix de France from Nov. 1-3.
