The American figure skating star is expected to repeat as a world champion on Saturday. But he had to channel his grief over losing fellow skaters in January’s D.C. plane crash to get there.

Reigning champion Ilia Malinin delivered a season-best short program to take the lead over Japan's Yuma Kagiyama heading into Saturday night's free skate.

Malinin was also flawless and so electric that a roaring TD Garden crowd stood to applaud early in his final element, a step sequence. The result was a new international personal best score of 110.41, topping his old mark by 3.16 and giving him a lead of 3.32 over Kagiyama going into Saturday’s free skate (8 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock ).

The new star of figure skating, Ilia Malinin, put on his typically dazzling routine Thursday at the world championships in Boston.

The self-proclaimed Quad God, Malinin could attempt as many as seven quads in his long program at the 2025 world figure skating championships.

Ilia Malinin is heavily favored to defend his figure skating world championship this week in what should be a preview of the competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Ilia Malinin, a prominent American figure skater, is poised to make history by performing a legal backflip in competition at the world championships. This move was previously banned but reinstated by the ISU.