Ilia Malinin won his third consecutive ISU World Figure Skating Championship in Prague on Saturday, posting a 329.40 total score in what observers are already calling a redemption performance after his disappointment at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year. The margin was decisive: his score would have won Olympic gold by nearly 38 points.

What made the victory notable was what Malinin did not do. He did not attempt the quad axel — the jump that made him the "Quad God," the only skater in history to land it in competition — nor the quad loop. Instead he constructed a free skate built around five other quadruple jumps, landed them cleanly, and let the program's score speak for itself. When asked why he declined the signature jump, Malinin said: "I think the best answer to that question is because this is the time for me to relax."

It is a telling phrase from a 21-year-old who has been carrying the weight of figure skating's future for years. The quad axel, at the Olympics, contributed to a moment that cost him gold. At Worlds, he chose five clean jumps over one transcendent gamble, and won in a runaway.

The silver went to Japan's Yuma Kagiyama, bronze to Shun Sato. Malinin now holds three world titles and a bronze from 2023, becoming — as one commenter noted — a "quad-time World medalist." The pun is earned.

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Prague