BOSTON — The second day of the 2025 world figure skating championships at TD Garden featured one of the event’s main attractions: Defending world champion Ilia Malinin.
Malinin, the only skater in history to land a quadruple axel in competition, was be one of three American men to perform their short programs Thursday afternoon on Day 2 of the world championships. The second and final session of pairs competition follows Thursday night.
Thursday’s events come after a fascinating first day of skating in Boston, specifically in the women’s singles, where the U.S. has two skaters in podium contention. Alysa Liu is sitting in first place and Isabeau Levito is in third. The second half of competition, the free skate, is Friday.
Here’s the latest from Day 2 of the world figure skating championships:
Ilia Malinin near perfect in short program to take lead
Before every program at worlds, a message from the skater(s) flashes on the jumbotron at TD Garden. Malinin’s message: ‘Let’s get this party started.’
And get it started he did. Malinin turned in a nearly flawless short program, nailing all of his jumping elements en route to a massive score of 110.41. He leads by a little more than three points after the short program, with Yuma Kagiyama of Japan the only skater in the same ballpark. His short program score was 94.77. Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan is a distant third at 94.77.
Malinin referenced his message in a brief interview after the skate.
‘It looks like it was a party,’ he said.
World figure skating championships standings, results
Here are the standings in each discipline, as of Thursday evening.
Women’s singles (after short program)
Alysa Liu, USA: 74.58
Mone Chiba, Japan: 73.44
Isabeau Levito, USA: 73.33
Wakaba Higuchi, Japan: 72.10
Kaori Sakamoto, Japan: 71.03
Men’s singles (after short program)
Ilia Malinin, USA: 110.41
Yuma Kagiyama, Japan: 107.09
Mikhail Shaidorov, Kazakhstan: 94.77
Kevin Aymoz, France: 93.63
Shun Sato, Japan: 91.26
Pairs (after short program)
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, Japan: 76.57
Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, Italy: 74.61
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, Germany: 73.59
Anastasiia Metelkina, Luke Berulava, Georgia: 71.68
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, USA: 68.61
Ice dance
Begins Friday
What do the world championships mean for Olympic qualifying?
To put it briefly: It’s significant.
Without going into all of the nuances of the International Skating Union’s quota allocation system, how it basically works is that skaters here will earn Olympic spots for their countries. And those countries will then decide who gets to fill those spots at the end of this year or early in 2026. A total of 83 quota spots are at stake across the four disciplines.
While an individual skater can’t technically punch their Olympic ticket this week, there are cases in which that is essentially the case. Donovan Carrillo, for instance, is the only top-tier male skater from Mexico. So if he were to secure a quota spot for Mexico, he would in essence be securing his own Olympic spot.
Andrew Torgashev in the mix after strong showing
The first American to take the ice in the men’s short program was also the first to temporarily move atop the leaderboard.
Andrew Torgashev, who finished second to Ilia Malinin at the most recent U.S. championships, barely hung on to his quadruple toe loop on his first jumping pass but then turned in a terrific, energetic performance to move briefly into the lead with a score of 87.27. His intricate, fast-paced step sequence prompted roars from the crowd.
‘My entire goal for this competition, and for any competition, is just to feel fulfilled after it − to make all of those runthroughs, all that soreness and sweat and tears all worth it,’ he said afterwards. ‘This short today was worth it.’
Torgashev, 23, previously represented Team USA at the 2023 world championships, where he finished 21st. He said he felt much more confident and comfortable when he took the ice Thursday.
Jason Brown puts boot issue behind him
Two-time Olympian Jason Brown raised a few eyebrows when he withdrew from nationals in January citing ‘a series of challenges adjusting to an equipment change.’ He has since revealed that the problem stemmed from his skates − the old ones that started giving him pain, and his search in vain to find new ones that would work.
‘Unfortunately, or fortunately, we figured out the boot issue. But it took all season to do so,’ Brown said. ‘So I really struggled throughout the season with that.’
With the boot issue behind him, Brown is back in Boston, where his 2014 Riverdance-themed program helped put him on the skating map. And despite a few minor hiccups in his short program Thursday, he turned in a solid score of 84.72. He was second behind Torgashev at the end of their group.
‘I’m proud of the fight that I’ve had this season,’ he said. ‘Every single time I felt like I got knocked down, me and my coaches and (my) sports psych and my family rallied and we were like ‘no, we’re going to keep pushing, we’re going to figure this out.”
How to watch world figure skating championships
Here is the complete schedule for the 2025 world figure skating championships, with channel and television coverage start times in parentheses. The entirety of all sessions will be available on Peacock.
Thursday, 11:05 a.m. to 4:44 p.m. ET: Men’s short program (USA Network, 3 p.m.)
Thursday, 6:15 p.m. to 9:55 p.m. ET: Pairs free skate (USA Network, 8 p.m.)
Friday, 11:15 a.m. to 4:54 p.m. ET: Rhythm dance (USA Network, 3 p.m.)
Friday, 6 p.m. to 9:52 p.m. ET: Women’s free skate (NBC, 8 p.m.)
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. to 4:50 p.m. ET: Free dance (USA Network, 3 p.m.)
Saturday, 6 p.m. to 9:52 p.m. ET: Men’s free skate (NBC, 8 p.m.)
When do U.S. figure skaters compete today?
Here’s a rundown of when the remaining American skaters will be on the ice today.
8:14 p.m. ET: Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, pairs free skate
9:08 p.m. ET: Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, pairs free skate
Who are the favorites in men’s singles?
Ilia Malinin appears to be in a class of his own. At last year’s world championships, he won by a commanding 24 points. And this year, he became the first skater to land six quadruple jumps in the same program − and the first to attempt seven.
Given the scoring dynamics of figure skating, Malinin’s maximum score − what he’s capable of doing − will give him a built-in cushion. And it’d be surprising, bordering on stunning, to see him not repeat as world champ.
The man who has been closest to Malinin is Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who finished second both at last year’s worlds and the more recent Grand Prix final. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa and Japan’s Shun Sato are among the other top contenders for podium spots.
Who’s on the call for world figure skating championships?
The portions of the world figure skating championships that are televised on NBC or USA Network will have many of the usual broadcasting voices.
Terry Gannon will once again handle play-by-play duties, with Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir offering color commentary. The telecasts will also feature Gabriella Papadakis, a 2022 Olympic gold medalist, as an ice dance analyst, with Andrea Joyce and Adam Rippon as reporters.