'On autopilot': US skate star Malinin nears more Olympic gold

Victory would give him a first individual Olympic title after he helped seal team gold for the United States on Sunday at Milano Ice Skating Arena.

The two-time world champion leads Japan's Yuma Kagiyama by a comfortable 5.09 points (103.07), with France's Adam Siao Him Fa in third place on 102.55.

"I definitely took a different approach being in the team event," said Malinin, who had trailed Kagiyama in the short programme in that event.

"I think I had too much, I'll call it Olympic excitement, so I really just felt like there's so much pressure and I was like so hyped up, so excited to skate out there and it really just came back and bit me.

"So coming to this short programme and individual event, I wanted to take things a little more slowly, a little more calm and just let, honestly just push the autopilot button and see what happens."

Malinin, who is unbeaten in more than two years, pulled out two quadruple jumps and a triple axel during an assured performance.

An acrobatic closing section featuring a backflip, aerial twist and a one-armed cartwheel captivated the crowd, who cheered wildly.

"I definitely was having fun and I was so excited for it," said Malinin, the self-styled 'Quad God' for his ability to land all the four-rotation jumps.

Malinin's programme originally listed the quad axel, but in the end he did not attempt to become the first person to land it in Olympic competition.

"That was still kind of my lazy part of me just forgetting to change the planned elements," he told journalists, "but you know... it's not the end of it, so we'll see in the future, of course."

Skating after Malinin, 22-year-old Kagiyama was distracted by the deafening cheers for his rival, failing to reproduce the form that overhauled his rival days ago.

The Olympic singles silver medallist from Beijing hit two quadruple jumps in his routine to a remix of "I Wish" but stumbled on his triple axel.

"While I was waiting, I could hear the cheers for Ilia," the four-time world medallist said. 

"It didn't really make me nervous, but I was even more convinced that I have to enjoy this performance. 

"I was not happy with my axel."

Siao Him Fa earned a personal-best score for his clean skate, a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci, that included two quadruple jumps as he bids to put France back on the men's Olympic podium for the first time since Philippe Candeloro won bronze in 1998.

ea/mw