Uno leads Malinin following men’s short program at worlds

Canada’s Messing sits in fourth place at his sixth and final championships

SAITAMA, JAPAN Defending titleholder Shoma Uno of Japan edged American teen Ilia Malinin to lead the men’s short program at the World Figure Skating Championships Thursday.

Uno opened with a triple flip at Saitama Super Arena and followed with a quadruple toe loop, double toe loop combination. He finished with a triple Axel for a season-best 104.63 points, 4.25 ahead of Malinin.

“I was quite worried about my jumps heading into this competition,” Uno said. “But I was able to get through my program with no major mistakes and am happy with the result.”

Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea was third with 99.64.

Canadian champion Keegan Messing, competing at his sixth and final world championships, is in the medal hunt following a clean skate that put him fourth with a personal-best international score of 98.75.

“To pull out this performance on this stage is what I’ve been looking for all year,” said Messing, whose previous best at worlds is sixth in 2021. “I was a little scared going in on how much I felt I did have this. I wasn’t feeling nervous, I was feeling free and everything was lining up. But I was able to reign myself in and keep myself at a constant level.”

Skating to “I Put A Spell On You,” Malinin received 100.38 points after a powerful routine that featured a quadruple Lutz, triple toe loop combination, a quad toe loop and a triple Axel.

“I’ve been working for this moment my whole life,” Malinin said. “It was an amazing moment for me.

This gives me a lot of motivation and self-confidence for the free skate.”

Coached by his parents, who represented Uzbekistan, the 18-yearold Malinin is the only skater to land a quadruple axel, widely regarded as the hardest jump in figure skating, in competition.

Meanwhile, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara became the first skaters from Japan to win the pairs.

Miura and Kihara were first after the short program Wednesday and finished second in the free skate with 141.44 points, behind defending champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States.

But their two-day total of 222.16 points was good enough for a 4.68points win over Knierim and Frazier, who scored 142.84 in the free for a 217.48 total.

Frazier fell in the short program on the triple toe which proved to be costly for the Americans.

European champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy were third with 208.08 points, just ahead of Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., who finished fourth with 199.97.

The Canadian duo, in their second season together, won four international medals this season including two gold as well as their first national title. “It’s all learning,” said Deschamps. “There were some nerves and it was our first time at worlds, as well. The whole season was the highlight for us.”

Fellow Canadians Lia Pereira of Milton and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont. were sixth with 193 points, while Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar of Toronto placed 11th with 181.95.

Miura and Kihara took the silver medal at the last worlds. Their personal best of 80.72 in the short program gave them a 6.08 lead over the Americans and a shot at history heading into the free program.

The Japanese team dominated this season with gold at the Grand Prix Final and the Four Continents, and added the worlds.

Russia’s typically dominant skating team has been excluded from the world championships for the second straight year because of the invasion of Ukraine.

‘‘ To pull out this performance on this stage is what I’ve been looking for all year.

KEEGAN MESSING CANADIAN FIGURE SKATER