Ilia Malinin had just finished defending his world title with another sensational performance including six quadruple jumps beneath the lights of a nearly sold-out TD Garden. But as he pounded the ice after his final pose, the gesture wasn’t pure triumph like last year in Montreal. It was the frustration of a perfectionist falling short of a standard no one else is asking him to meet.
“That was definitely because I didn’t land all seven,” the 20-year-old American said afterward. “It’s still the one thing I want to accomplish – whether before the Olympics or sometime in my career – just to land them all and really maximize my technical ability, while also incorporating the rest of the program.”
