WATCH: 17-Year-Old US Figure Skating Sensation Breaks Long Standing World Record with Four Perfect Leaps

Ilia Malinin, a young American figure skater, has set a new world record in the Short Program at the Junior World Championships.

The 17-year-old, dubbed the “Quad God” for his leaping abilities, easily beat the previous record by a little over 4 points.

Ilia Malinin Skates to Shatter the World Record

Malinin earned 88.99 to seize the lead at the World Championships while skating to David Cook’s ‘Billie Jean.’ He began with a large triple lutz/triple toe loop combination leap, followed by a great triple flip and a crisp triple axel.

“I liked and enjoyed my performance today, because I did everything I wanted to do well,” said Ilia, “Worlds was a bit of a disappointment, because how I skated was not how I expected to skate.”

He shattered Japan’s Shoma Uno’s previous record of 84.87 established at the Junior Championships in 2015.

Ilia is now ranked first with this score. Wesley Chiu of Canada came in second with an 81.59, while Mihhail Selevko of Estonia came in third (81.26). Liam Kapeikis, Malinin’s teammate, finished fourth with 79.83 points.

This year, Malinin placed ninth in the Senior World Championships and second in the US Championships. He now hopes to become the first American to win the tournament since Tomoki Hiwatashi in 2019.

Despite this, Malinin was not selected for the Beijing team, as the selection committee preferred veteran Jason Brown.

On Friday, the World Junior Championships will continue with events in Rhythm Dance and Pairs Free Skate.

Karina Safina and Luka Berulava of Georgia led the pairs event with 67.77 points. Second place went to Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos of Australia, and third place went to Anastasiia Smirnova and Danil Siianytsia of the United States.

ALSO READ: “Rather Be Running…”- Two Times Olympic Medalist Russian Figure Skater Evgenia Medvedeva Doesn’t Want Her Kids to Follow the Sport

Malinin in the world of Skating

After being born in 2004, Ilia began skating in 2010. He won the US National Juvenile Championship in 2016, followed by the 2017 Intermediate Championship and a third-place finish in the National Novice Championship.

He also won the Asian Trophy in 2018 and was a Silver Medalist in the Golden Bear.

With his latest achievement, he has now become a clear favorite to win a medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

WATCH: Nathan Chen Begins Teaching Younger Kids After Skipping World Figure Skating Championship