{"id":17262,"date":"2026-03-30T07:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=17262"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:51:19","slug":"quad-god-is-back-and-hes-not-playing-ilia-malinin-just-dropped-a-monster-performance-in-prague-and-completely-shut-down-every-doubt-after-the-olympics-he-steps-onto-the-ice-with-something-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=17262","title":{"rendered":"QUAD GOD IS BACK AND HE\u2019S NOT PLAYING!!! Ilia Malinin just dropped a MONSTER performance in Prague and completely shut down every doubt after the Olympics. He steps onto the ice with something to prove\u2026 and what happened next had 13,000 fans on their feet. Clean jumps, insane energy, and a score that no one saw coming. But the story doesn\u2019t end there\u2026 a surprise contender just turned the podium race into pure chaos, and now the Free Skate could flip EVERYTHING\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-pasted=\"true\">Two-time and reigning ISU World Champion\u00a0Ilia Malinin\u00a0(USA) once more ruled supreme in the Men\u2019s Short Program as the\u00a0ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026\u00a0continued Thursday in Prague, Czechia. The crowd of 13,444 at the O2 Arena witnessed a fantastic competition full of spectacular performances and surprises.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ilia Malinin strikes back to lead Men\u2019s Short Program<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ilia MALININ (USA) | Men Short Program | ISU World Championships Prague 2026 | #FigureSkating\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vPqKkqRgLZU\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Defending ISU World Champion\u00a0Ilia Malinin\u00a0(USA) scored a personal best to take the lead with 10 points to spare ahead of\u00a0Adam Siao Him Fa\u00a0of France. Estonia\u2019s\u00a0Aleksandr Selevko\u00a0pulled off the biggest surprise of the day by coming third.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DWWtu70jH6E\/embed\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=450&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fdashboard.isu-skating.com&amp;rp=%2Fsite%2Feditor#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A6568.699999809265%2C%22ls%22%3A6219.699999809265%2C%22le%22%3A6555.199999809265%7D\" height=\"880\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>All eyes were on\u00a0Malinin. How would he do after his disappointment at the Olympic Winter Games?<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWatch the battle unfold\u201d was his message to fans \u2013 and that\u2019s what they got to see. The ISU Grand Prix Final Champion opened his program to \u201cThe Lost Crown\u201d with a mighty quad flip followed by a triple Axel and a quad Lutz-triple toe combination. His spins were spot-on as well, and the crowd roared when Malinin gave them what they wanted to see \u2013 a backflip. Malin raised his personal best to 111.29 points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe audience was also cheering for the whole program, it was amazing. It was such a good feeling,\u201d Malinin said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got to the ice and was in this zone and let everything happen. I was definitely coming back to prove myself that it [his sub-par performance at the Olympic Games] was a one-time thing, but now I realize this is much more than just skating. It\u2019s being able to go and enjoy and have fun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tell myself that\u2019s in the past already, it\u2019s over, you have to get up and keep going,\u201d he continued, referring to his disappointment from Milan. \u201cEverything happens for a reason. As for the free [program in Prague], we\u2019ll see a program being finished, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\" src=\"https:\/\/isudam.blob.core.windows.net\/isudamcontainer\/CMS\/editorimage\/Malinin-GettyImages-22678977041774548914-6302.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ilia Malinin (USA) puts the disappointment of Milan behind him in Prague, Czechia \u00a9 ISU<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVitruvian Man\u201d Siao Him Fa produced a great performance of his routine inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, hitting a quad toe-triple toe and quad Salchow. The Frenchman finished his performance at the boards, right in front of his coaches, who were cheering and celebrating. The two-time ISU European Champion scored 101.85 points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very fun today. I was completely enjoying it,\u201d Siao Him Fa said. \u201cTo be fair, I was also very stressed. But as soon as the music started, I let myself go and let my body do it by itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight after the Olympics I had Art on Ice, so two weeks of shows, and the two weeks of preparations. During Art on Ice I tried to keep in shape and to keep training. It was good to have the shows for my head, I really needed it to skate in a different atmosphere and arena. It was great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\" src=\"https:\/\/isudam.blob.core.windows.net\/isudamcontainer\/CMS\/editorimage\/Siao-Him-Fa-GettyImages-22678976071774548528-7084.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) in action in Prague, Czechia \u00a9 ISU<\/p>\n<p>Selevko\u00a0really got the crowd going with his eccentric performance to \u201cKiss\u201d by Prince that featured a quad toe, triple Axel and exquisite footwork. The 2024 ISU European silver medalist posted a new personal best of 96.49 points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was nervous and now am extremely happy that this best skate happened at the end of this season,\u201d Selevko said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, the first two weeks after the Olympic Games, I didn\u2019t plan to come to the Worlds. Maybe no expectations helped me to skate like that. I was in good physical shape the whole time but couldn\u2019t deal with nerves, and now everything worked out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\" src=\"https:\/\/isudam.blob.core.windows.net\/isudamcontainer\/CMS\/editorimage\/Selevko--GettyImages-22684697211774548628-3133.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Estonia\u2019s \u2018extremely happy\u2019 Aleksandr Selevko, who sits in third place after the Short Program in Prague, Czechia \u00a9 ISU<\/p>\n<p>Olympic bronze medalist\u00a0Shun Sato\u00a0(JPN) came fourth with a strong performance to \u201cLadies in Lavender\u201d, and remains within striking distance of the podium, on 95.84 points.\u00a0Stephen Gogolev\u00a0(CAN) set a personal best of 94.38 points to come fifth. Olympic silver medalist\u00a0Yuma Kagiyama\u00a0(JPN) missed his planned triple Axel to finish sixth on 93.80 points.<\/p>\n<p>Find more comments from the skaters in the\u00a0Quick Quotes and Press Conference section\u00a0on the ISU website.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What and when\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The schedule of the\u00a0ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026\u00a0is as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday, March 25: Women\u2019s &amp; Pairs Short Programs<br \/>\nThursday, March 26: Men\u2019s Short Program &amp; Pairs Free Skating<br \/>\nFriday, March, 27: Rhythm Dance &amp; Women\u2019s Free Skating<br \/>\nSaturday, March 28: Men\u2019s Free Skating &amp; Free Dance<br \/>\nSunday, March 29: \u00a0Exhibition Gala &amp; ISU Figure Skating Awards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time and reigning ISU World Champion\u00a0Ilia Malinin\u00a0(USA) once more ruled supreme in the Men\u2019s Short Program as the\u00a0ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026\u00a0continued Thursday in Prague, Czechia&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17264,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17262\/revisions\/17264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}