Ilia Malinin sets personal best to lead after short program at world championships

• American leads after personal best in short program
• Japan's Kagiyama keeps chase with near career-best
• Malinin can backflip into history on Saturday night

Ilia Malinin arrived in Massachusetts as the clear favorite to defend his world figure skating championship. On Thursday afternoon at TD Garden, he performed like a man unbothered by that weight, launching his title defense with one of the greatest short programs ever performed.

The 20-year-old American nicknamed the Quad God delivered a career-best first segment, scoring 110.41 points to take a 3.32-point lead over Japan's Yuma Kagiyama heading into Saturday night's free skate. It was the highest short program score of Malinin's career, and ranks behind only Olympic gold medallists Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu on the ISU's all-time list.