Malinin builds big lead at figure skating Grand Prix Final and Hase and Volodin win pairs

GRENOBLE, France (AP) — World champion Ilia Malinin took a big stride toward retaining his figure skating Grand Prix Final title after building an imposing 12-point lead in the short program on Friday.

The 20-year-old American skater landed a quadruple flip, triple axel and quad lutz-triple toeloop combination in a near-flawless program to score 105.43 points for the lead, narrowly missing his personal best.

Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was a distant second on 93.49 ahead of Saturday’s free skate after falling on his opening quad lutz, skating to “The Sound of Silence.”

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov was in the competition only because France's Adam Siao Him Fa withdrew with an ankle injury. He made the most of it, landing two quads on his way to 91.26 for third to the “Dune” soundtrack.

Skating in his hometown, France's Kevin Aymoz had a nightmarish start with falls on his first two jumps and placed last at 68.82.

Also, Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin retained their Grand Prix Final title in the pairs event. The Germans had an early setback when Hase put her hand down on landing a jump combination but recovered to finish clear of the field on a 218.10 total.

Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara held on for second on 206.71 against a strong challenge from Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, who were third with 205.78.

“This time was for sure much harder than last year,” Hase said. "Last year we didn’t come with any expectation, and this year as defending champion it’s for sure more pressure, so we just are so happy that we made it."

They're the first pair to repeat as Grand Prix Final champion since 2012 by fellow Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States took the lead in the ice dance with a score of 87.73 in the rhythm dance, ahead of Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri on 83.12 and Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson on 82.31. The ice dance concludes on Saturday.

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Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, of Great Britain, compete in the ice dance's rhythm dance segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, of Italy, compete in the ice dance's rhythm dance segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, compete in the ice dance's rhythm dance segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, of Georgia, compete in the pairs's free skating segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, of Japan, compete in the pairs's free skating segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, of Germany, compete in the pairs's free skating segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Mikhail Shaidorov, of Kazakhstan, competes in the men's short program segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Yuma Kagiyama, of Japan, competes in the men's short program segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, competes in the men's short program segment at the ISU Grand Prix Finals of Figure Skating, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Grenoble, France. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — John Marino scored at 4:03 of the third period to break a tie and give the Utah Mammoth a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Marino also assisted on Nick Schmaltz's 17th goal of the season and Karel Vejmelka made 26 stops as the Mammoth won for the fifth time in six games.

Mikko Rantanen scored and Jake Oettinger had 25 saves for Dallas, which has lost nine of its last 11 games.

Schmaltz broke a scoreless deadlock with 7 seconds left in the second period, tipping in a feed from Marino. It was the fourth latest goal in any regulation period in Utah's short franchise history.

The Mammoth nearly made it 2-0 just 38 seconds into the third, but Lawson Crouse had his goal wiped off the board for high-sticking.

Rantanen leveled the score with a power-play goal at the 2:04 of the third.

Marino answered two minutes later, snapping the puck home from long distance to put the Mammoth up 2-1 with his second winning goal of the season.

Utah improved to 16-1-1 this season when leading after two periods.

Stars: host Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Mammoth: host Seattle on Saturday.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars defenseman Kyle Capobianco, right, moves the puck against Utah Mammoth defenseman Sean Durzi during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (55) shoots the puck against Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston, right, moves the puck against Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson, center left, fights for the puck against Utah Mammoth defenseman John Marino (6) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)