Sawt Falasteen - Malinin bounces back from Olympic meltdown with third straight world skating gold

Malinin lead all the way to take the title with a winning margin of 22.73 points on Japanese rival Yuma Kagiyama. Japan's Shun Sato won bronze after the free skating final.

The world championships in Prague are taking place just a month after the Olympics where Malinin had been the overwhelming favourite.

The undefeated star of skating for over two years had been leading after the short programme before crumbling under the pressure in the free skate to finish eighth.

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov went on to win the Olympic gold ahead of Kagiyama and Sato. Shaidorov skipped the world championships.

But in his first competition since, 21-year-old Malinin took a 9.44-point lead for Thursday's short programme into the free skating final.

And in a programme which included five quadruple jumps, Malinin scored 218.11 points for his free skate and 329.40 overall.

Kagiyama moved up from sixth after the short programme to achieve his fifth world medal with 306.67 points.

Sato moved onto the podium at worlds for the first time from fourth after France's Adam Siao Him Fa dropped from second to fifth after falling during his routine.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST