Ilia Malinin doesn’t back down. When all of his jumping passes at last month’s Grand Prix Final were judged to contain under-rotation, he still had a sweatshirt made that reproduced the scoresheet, a memento of his having tried a free skate program with unprecedented difficulty.

He might've planned to land seven quads, but the reigning World champion romped to another national crown by hitting on six of them.

Ilia Malinin topped the Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships men's short program by the largest margin in history.