Ilia Malinin s brilliant quad axel, along with four more quads packed into a dynamic free skate Saturday night, was enough to lift him past early Kao Miura at Skate America. The 17-year-old American finished with 2807.73 points in his senior Grand Prix debut. That was more than seven points clear of Miura and well ahead of third-place Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea. In the pairs competition, American world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier overcame a few mistakes in their free skate to win the opening Grand Prix event of the figure skating season.
American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates along with Japan s Kaori Sakamoto, the women s world champion, took the lead after their short programs in the Grand Prix opener at Skate America on Saturday in Massachusetts.
Ilia Malinin of the United States landed only the second quadruple axel ever performed in competition to become Skate America's youngest-ever men's champion on Saturday.
Despite a miscue, Madison Chock and Evan Bates still managed to squeak by fellow Americans Kaitlin Hawayak and Jean-Luc Baker to stand atop the ice dance podium at Skate America on Sunday.