Malinin lands 7 quadruple jumps, US skaters win 3 gold medals on last day of Grand Prix Final

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — Ilia Malinin of the United States lived up to his reputation as the “The Quad God” on Saturday, winning his third straight figure skating Grand Prix Final and solidifying his place as the gold medal favorite at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

A disappointing third after the short program, Malinin became the first skater to land seven quadruple jumps in competition for a record free skate score of 238.24 points and an overall total of 332.29.

“This is one of the best skates I’ve ever had,” Malinin said “I went out on the ice and I had to fight for every single element and I was so glad I was able to do that in front of the Japanese crowd.”

Among the quad jumps he landed was a quadruple axel and a quad loop.

Before the free skate, Malinin said he was thinking about attempting six quads on Saturday. He went one better.

“The Grand Prix Final is a place for me to try new things and new elements to give myself an understanding of what is possible especially this year with the Olympics,” Malinin said. “So I decided I wanted to go all out and give myself a foundation of what (my program) could look like.”

Beijing Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama, who led after the short program, took the silver medal with 302.41 points while his Japanese compatriot Shun Sato was third with 292.08.

Malinin, who hasn’t lost a competition in more than two years, is the two-time and reigning world champion and the three-time Grand Prix Final champion.

He said his win on Saturday is a big confidence boost heading into his Olympic debut in February.

“It gives me a lot of confidence that I am able to go out there and get this done,” Malinin said. “I will take the next two months heading up to the Olympics trying to perfect everything, really work on all my weaknesses and make everything as perfect as it can be.”

In the women’s competition, world champion Alysa Liu finished third in the free skate but it was good enough to allow the American to win the gold medal with an overall score of 222.49 points, a result that gives her confidence heading to the Olympics.

“It does give me confidence in my stamina and consistency,” Liu said. “But a lot of things can happen between now and the Olympics, I still have nationals but I’ll keep training, working on my stamina.”

Teenager Ami Nakai of Japan, who landed a clean triple axel, was second with 220.89 points while three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto was third with 218.80.

Sakamoto, who will retire after the Olympics, won the free skate despite singling a double axel.

Liu landed seven triple jumps and a double axel for 146.70 points in the free skate.

Mone Chiba, who led after the short program, fell on a triple loop and a triple salchow to drop to fifth place. Defending GP Final champion Amber Glenn of the United States landed a clean triple axel and moved up to fourth from sixth.

The women’s result further underscores the fact there is no clear favorite for the Olympics.

The International Skating Union has decided to allow Russian skaters to compete in next year’s Olympics as neutrals but only in the men’s and women’s competitions.

Adeliia Petrosian will compete on the women’s side while Petr Gumennik will take part in the men’s event.

In ice dance, Olympic gold medal favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won their third straight Grand Prix Final title with a season’s-best score of 131.68 in the free skate for a total of 220.42.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France won the silver medal with 214.25 points while Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain took the bronze with 208.81 points.

Chock and Bates, the three-time reigning world champions, won a record-tying sixth ice dance title at Skate America in November. They also won the Cup of China in the Grand Prix series.

Chock and Bates will be the gold medal favorites at the Olympics.

“There are so many positives that we can bring forward into the second half of the season,” Chock said. “It’s always a treat to compete among the best skaters in the world and we really look forward to progressing in the second half of the season.”

They won the Grand Prix Final in 2023 and 2024.

AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Alysa Liu, of the United States, poses after winning the gold medal in the women's event at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Alysa Liu, of the United States, poses after winning the gold medal in the women's event at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, stands on the podium after winning the gold medal in the men's event at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, competes in the men's free skating segment at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, competes in the men's free skating segment at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet on Saturday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.

Following talks that made progress on a security framework for postwar Ukraine, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday. They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a U.S.-mediated proposal to end the war.

Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Among these, at least three people were wounded in the Kyiv region, according to local officials. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Ukraine’s Lviv region.

Russia carried out a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shut-down reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that energy facilities were the main targets of the attacks, also noting that a drone strike had “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, located in the Kyiv region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its air defenses had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Saturday.

Russian Telegram news channel Astra said Ukraine struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, sharing footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery. Ryazan regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said a residential building had been damaged in a drone attack and that drone debris had fallen on the grounds of an “industrial facility,” but did not mention the refinery.

Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war. Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

The latest round of attacks came as U.S. President Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet for a third day of talks on Saturday, after making progress on finding agreement on a security framework for postwar Ukraine.

Following Friday’s talks, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday. They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a U.S.-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Workers and military inspect Ukrainian Fire Point's Flamingo missiles during handover to the military in an undisclosed location in Ukraine Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)