Ilia Malinin scored 284.31 points to win his fourth Skate America title at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington.
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Ilia Malinin won Skate America for the fourth time on Saturday night, finishing with 284.31 points inside Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington.
Malinin’s overall total held up despite Daniel Grassl edging him in the free skate; Grassl finished with 274.73 points overall. Israel’s Tamir Kuperman also placed on the Grand Prix podium for the first time in his career.
In pairs, Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took the title with 200.79 points. Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov were second with 191.79, and U.S. teammates Katie McBeath and Balazs Nagy finished third with 187.13.
In the women’s short program earlier in the night, Olympic bronze medallist Ami Nakai scored 82.20 points, setting a personal best and the highest-scoring short program this Grand Prix season. Alexandra Ignatova, who previously competed as Trusova and was a silver medallist at the 2022 Olympics, was second at 74.24. Yujae Kim of Korea was third, and Adeliia Petrosian—competing as a neutral athlete—was fourth.
Malinin led comfortably after the short program Friday night, but Grassl reduced the gap with a strong free skate. Malinin then delivered another quad-heavy performance, landing four quads among six jumping passes, including a quad lutz in sequence with a triple axel and double axel, with his backflip also earning a notable reaction.
Nakai’s short program featured a triple axel and other elements including a triple lutz-triple toe sequence and a triple loop, leaving her with nearly an eight-point advantage heading into Sunday’s free skate. She said, “I was able to trust myself, and then all the jumps, I was able to land them,” adding, “I feel really great about this performance.”
Ignatova opted to open her program with a safer double axel and was returning for her first Skate America appearance since winning the event in 2021. Petrosian’s participation came after the International Skating Union said Russian athletes could compete as neutrals, and she was added to the Skate America field after the withdrawal of Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone.
In ice dance, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik posted 82.52 points to lead the rhythm dance, finishing just short of the season’s best score. Their program was set to selections from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet. France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud were second, and the Czech duo Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek were third.
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