Ilia Malinin scores 96.74 to lead Skate America after short program in Everett

The Story

Ilia Malinin opened his Grand Prix season at Skate America with a short program score of 96.74 points on Friday night at Angel of the Wings Arena in Everett, Washington.

The three-time world champion’s total was enough to place him ahead of Sota Yamamoto of Japan, who was second with 91.29, and Donovan Carrillo of Mexico, who was third with 86.49.

In the pairs short program, Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany led with 72.71 points. The American team of Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov was second at 71.85, while the Swiss pair of Oxana Vouillamoz and Tom Bouvart was third with 70.63; Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov of Winnipeg were fourth with 67.73.

Malinin, who is pursuing Olympic redemption after missing out on an individual medal at the Milan Games, competed in the short program to “Cantata Memoria: For the Children,” performed as a tribute to those from the close-knit skating community who were killed in January 2025 after an American Airlines flight collision with a military helicopter.

He said his approach for the debut was to “feel out the program, how I felt on the ice,” adding that “as the season goes on, the short program is going to be really easy to skate.”

Mitrofanov, speaking about beginning the season after last year’s circumstances, said, “That was last season. We’re very happy to start this season, and be out there on the ice.”

Alysa Liu withdrew from Skate America as she took a break from the sport, and U.S. champion Amber Glenn also did not compete.

Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., finished 10th in the men’s short program, while Jason Brown scored 84.00 points to sit sixth heading into Saturday’s free skate, after spinning out on his opening triple axel but building a solid program.