Photo credit Getty Images
By Kristen Henneman
Ilia Malinin jumped his way into the lead Saturday at Skate Canada International in Halifax, Canada, dominating the men’s short program.
Competing for the second straight weekend, the reigning World champion produced a short program score of 106.22, which leads the field by nearly 10 points.
In his performance to "RUNNING" by NF, Malinin was clean throughout, earning positive grades of execution on every element. He secured massive points for his opening quad flip and as his quad Lutz-triple toe loop jump combination in the second half of the program – which was awarded 20.72 points – the highest-scoring element of the event by nearly five points. Both elements received outstanding grades of execution of 3.46 and 3.45, respectively.
The Skate America champion last week, Malinin will look to remain undefeated in the calendar year and take home his sixth Grand Prix medal on Sunday. He also will have the opportunity to lock up a place in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
In his return to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series for the first time since 2021, Jason Brown continued to wow crowds with his artistry, tallying the second-highest component score behind only Malinin with 43.31 points for his program set to music from The Legend of Tarzan soundtrack.
The two-time Olympian finished seventh with a segment score of 79.03.
Both the pairs and women’s events wrapped up Saturday.
Team USA’s sole entry in the pairs event, Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, finished fifth in their first Grand Prix event since 2022.
Skating to "Io Ci Sarò" by Andrea Bocelli, the two-time Grand Prix medalists used two show-stopping Level 4 lifts to score 117.27 points in the segment and 178.31 points overall.
In the women’s event, Alysa Liu placed sixth while Elyce Lin-Gracey finished seventh.
For Liu, Skate Canada marks the second international event of her comeback to the sport and her first Grand Prix event since 2021.
Although Liu, a 2022 Olympian and World bronze medalist, started the day in second place, she slipped to sixth after struggling with her jumps. Her skate to "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer earned 120.01 points; she finished an overall score of 187.69 points.
Lin-Gracey, who placed sixth at Skate America last weekend, finished with 123.73 points in the free skate and 182.37 points overall. Skating to music from the ballet Cléopâtre, the 2023 U.S. junior bronze medalist’s performance included a beautiful triple flip-double Axel-double toe loop in the second half worth 11.95 points.
The ice dance event kicked off Saturday with Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik leading the United States in fourth place with a score of 75.63.
Competing at Skate Canada International for the second straight year, the 2023 U.S. pewter medalists’ performance to a medley of Bee Gees songs opened with their two strongest elements, their pattern dance type step sequence and midline step sequence – both of which scored nearly 10 points.
Also at Skate Canada for the second year in a row was Oona Brown and Gage Brown, who recorded their best result at a Grand Prix at this event last year with a fourth-place result. Their James Brown-inspired performance earned 72.16 points for sixth place.
In seventh, Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville received 71.48 points for their performance to “Brick House” by The Commodores and “Daddy Cool” by Boney M.
Competition at Skate Canada International wraps up Sunday with the men’s free skate and free dance.
For full results, visit the Grand Prix Series Competition Central on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone.
