Kaori Sakamoto shines and ‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin becomes the youngest men’s Skate America champion

Japan’s reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto dazzled the competition to claim her first Skate America title at the fifth time of asking.

The double Olympic bronze medallist finished 11 points ahead of the USA’s second-place Isabeau Levito, 15, who was making her senior Grand Prix debut in Norwood, Massachusetts.

There was more success for the hosts, with 17-year-old Ilia Malinin becoming the youngest-ever men’s champion after landing the first quadruple Axel in Grand Prix history on Saturday.

‘Quad God’ Malinin was the first to hit the quadruple Axel in competition at September’s U.S. International Classic and opened his free with the same jaw-dropping stunt.

The weekend also saw American duos Madison Chock/Evan Bates and Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier take golds in the ice dance and pairs event respectively.

Leading after the rhythm dance, married couple Chock and Bates set a total score of 202.80 barely ahead of their American teammates Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker’s 202.07.

And the USA’s world champions Knierim and Frazier got their season off to the perfect start with a free skate performance to ‘Sign of the Times’ by Harry Styles which earned them their second Skate America title.

They led after the short program and held off challenges from Canadian duos Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps and Kelly Ann Laurin/Loucas Ethier to record a winning total of 201.39.