Ilia Malinin and Isabeau Levito impress at World Figure Skating Championships 2024 with medal-winning displays

Two Americans Ilia Malinin and Isabeau Levito accomplished great feats at the World Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada on Saturday night, with Malinin winning a gold and Isabeau securing a silver medal in their respective divisions.

Malinin, 19, made history with his great athletic performance in figure skating. He became the second man after 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen to land six quads in one skate when he performed a quadruple Axel, quad Lutz, quad loop, quad Salchow, another quad Lutz (in combination with a triple flip), a quad toe loop (in combo with triple toe), and a triple Lutz-triple Axel combo. It is worth noting that Chen did not attempt the quadruple Axel, which is considered the hardest quadruple to land. With his sensational performance, the teenager claimed his first world title.

ISU Figure Skating highlighted Malinin's achievement on X (formerly Twitter), saying:

"Free Skating World Record World Champion Title"

Isabeau Levito helped the US women earn the third spot at the World Championships 2025 in Boston after she achieved a silver. She recorded the best finish by an American woman since Ashley Wagner in 2016. This is the 17-year-old's first World medal.

Figure Skating Archive shared Levito's video on X, with the caption:

"Isabeau Levito at Worlds Gala 2024"

Ilia Malinin can't believe he landed the six quads at World Figure Skating Championships 2024

Ilia Malinin at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Montreal

Malinin expressed bewilderment about his latest performance. He told reporters after the event that he was still in shock. The American figure skater said:

"I still can't believe I did this."

He shared:

"When I got into the starting position, I knew this could be the best skate of my life or it could go terribly wrong. So I just thought, keep myself under control and try to attack everything." (via USA Today)

Malinin, who is also called the quad god, said one quad led to another and he heard the crowd cheering him on. He said:

"I was just flying through the program. It was just amazing to hear at the very end of the program when I finished all my jumping passes, just hear the crowd go wild."

Though the 2023-24 Grand Prix Final champion shared that it was an emotional experience and the weeks leading up to the World Championships were mentally and physically challenging, he capped his brilliant performances off with a title and a gold medal.