The Quad God reborn: Ilia Malinin leads world championships after Olympic shock

• American on course for victory after short program

• 21-year-old had disastrous sake at Winter Olympics

Ilia Malinin bounced back from his disappointment at this year’s Winter Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday.

Malinin, sporting a new haircut, gave fans what they expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena in Prague.

The performance showed the Olympic failure was behind him. He will go to Saturday’s free skate with a massive lead of more than nine points after a personal-best 111.29 score in the short program.

Known as the Quad God, Malinin opened with a quad flip and a combination of quad lutz and a triple toe loop. The only skater to have successfully landed a quad axel in competition performed only a triple version of his trademark jump.