Reigning champion Ilia Malinin of U.S. leaps to early lead at figure skating worlds in Boston

Reigning world champion Ilia Malinin delivered a season-best short program on Thursday night, giving the young American star a slim lead over Japan's Yuma Kagiyama in what has quickly become a two-man race to this year's title.

Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan was a distant third with 94.77 points heading into Saturday night's free skate, which will wrap up the final world championships before the Milano-Cortina Olympics next year.

The high-flying Malinin, who has not been beaten since 2023, has become the clear-cut favourite to succeed Chen at the Winter Games. And he certainly doesn't seem to mind the pressure, performing with a sort of swagger that belies his age.

As Malinin wrapped his short program, set to "Running" by American rapper NF, the TD Garden crowd stood in ovation.

WATCH | Malinin leaps to large early men's short program lead:

American 'quad god' Ilia Malinin jumps out to big world championship lead in Boston

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., posted an 80.25, just shy of a season-best, to rank 15th after his solid skate to "Unconscious" by Charlie Winston.

"Overall, a really positive experience, really good energy here in the crowd — lots of Canadian flags," said Sadovsky, who placed 19th at worlds in Montreal last year.

The 25-year-old qualified for Saturday's free skate and secured one men's event entry for Canada at the 2026 Winter Games. He'll need to climb into the top 10 to earn his country a second provisional spot.

WATCH | Sadovsky sits 15th after men's short program:

Canada's Roman Sadovsky sits in 15th place at the world figure skating championships

The world championships continued Thursday night, when the first medals were to be awarded following the pairs free skate. Riku Miura and