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Ilia Malinin three-peats in world championships after disastrous Olympics

Olympics: Figure Skating - GalaFeb 21, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States performs in the figure skating exhibition gala during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images

Ilia Malinin has three-peated.

The 21-year-old U.S. figure skater won his third straight world championship Saturday in Prague, scoring 329.40 points to win gold by a margin of 22.73 over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. Shun Sato also secured Japan a bronze medal.

Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive world titles since Nathan Chen did it from 2018-2021. The 21-year-old is also the youngest to win three championships since Russia’s Alexei Yagudin in 2000, and he’s the second-youngest American to claim three after Dick Button did it at the age of 20.

Malinin’s triumph also serves as a redemption arc after being the gold-medal favorite in the Milan Olympics last month and finishing eighth. He landed five quads in the free skate as part of a routine that featured a lower degree of jump difficulty compared to his Olympic performance. Malinin also declined to attempt his trademark quad axel.

“My expectation was to leave the long program in one piece, and I definitely think that happened,” he said after the victory.

When asked if he intentionally chose a safer routine, Malinin responded: “A better answer to that question is, this has been time for me to relax and enjoy the last competition of the season.”

Malinin also enjoyed a return to his winning form after his 14-competition win streak, the longest stretch in men’s skating in decades, stalled out in Milan.

“This was probably one of the easier world championships I’ve been to, just because of the amount (of) pressure I had at the Olympics. And going into here, I felt like it was almost no pressure at all,” he said. “I completely blocked out all the expectations, all the pressure that people put on me and was really here to skate for myself and enjoy every moment of these world championships, and I think I did exactly that.”

Malinin’s success in the world championship could mean he’s destined for further redemption at the next Winter Olympics. Every U.S. men’s singles skater who’s won three-plus world titles has also won an Olympic gold, including Button (1948, ‘52), Hayes Alan Jenkins (1956), David Jenkins (1960), Scott Hamilton (1984) and Chen (2022).

The French tandem of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won the gold medal in the ice dance competition.

They posted a 230.81 score to easily win over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who took silver in 211.52. The American couple of Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik won bronze with a score of 209.20.

The world title is a record-tying sixth for Cizeron with the other five coming when Gabriella Papadakis was his partner. Cizeron and Papadakis also won gold in ice dancing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Cizeron took a break after those Olympics and formerly retired in December 2024 but quickly had the itch to compete again. Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry teamed up in March 2025 and the latter used to compete for Canada.

The chemistry came together quickly and the 31-year-old Cizeron and the 33-year-old Fournier Beaudry won the ice dance gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics last month.

And now they put together a memorable performance on the world stage.

“I think that having left the stage for a short time, you know how precious these moments are,” Cizeron said after Saturday’s victory. “These are moments that I particularly like, the moment when you have just finished and you can just take this mental image that goes by so quickly.”

–Field Level Media

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Igor Chernyshov scores late winner as Sharks edge Blue Jackets

NHL: San Jose Sharks at Columbus Blue JacketsMar 28, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; San Jose Sharks left wing Igor Chernyshov (92) celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images

Igor Chernyshov scored his second goal of the game with 1:25 left in the third period to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 win against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Macklin Celebrini entered the zone on the rush and passed to the middle for Will Smith, who fed Chernyshov for a one-timer from the left face-off dot.

Celebrini had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (33-31-7, 73 points), who snapped a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) and remain in contention for a Western Conference wild card spot. Will Smith had two assists, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves.

Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets (38-24-11, 87 points), who have lost three of four but remain strong contenders for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves.

Celebrini, who had gone six games without a goal, tied the score 2-2 with a power-play goal 57 seconds into the third period. Alexander Wennberg won the faceoff back to Dmitry Orlov at the point, and he passed across to Celebrini for the one-timer.

The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead just 31 seconds into the game. Mateychuk took a pass at the left point from Adam Fantilli, skated down into the left circle and beat Nedeljkovic with a wrist shot.

Chernyshov tied it 1-1 at 17:17. Chernyshov stole the puck at center ice, entered the offensive zone, passed to Smith and scored on a one-timer from the right circle off the return pass from Smith.

Sillinger gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead at 12:09 of the second period. Ivan Provorov intercepted a San Jose clearing attempt, skated down into the left circle and fed across to Sillinger, who scored on a one-timer from the right circle.

Nedeljkovic made a right pad save to rob Kirill Marchenko in the slot at 13:03 of the third period.

–Field Level Media

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Luis Robert Jr. belts three-run HR as Mets down Pirates in 11

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at New York MetsMar 28, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (88) hits a three run walk off home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eleventh inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Luis Robert Jr. hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning Saturday for the New York Mets, who overcame a pair of deficits in extras to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2.

Bryan Reynolds had an RBI infield single in the top of the 11th for the Pirates before the Mets rallied against Hunter Barco (0-1). Jorge Polanco worked a five-pitch walk, after which Robert hit a 1-0 pitch beyond the left-centerfield wall for his first homer with New York and his second career walk-off shot.

Robert, who was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in January, hit his other walk-off homer on Aug. 30, 2020.

The Mets are 2-0 for the first time since 2022.

Richard Lovelady (1-0) allowed an unearned run in the top of the 11th before earning his first big league win since 2024.

Luis Torrens had a game-tying RBI single in the 10th for the Mets, who loaded the bases with none out but didn’t score the winning run.

Nick Gonzales had an RBI single in the top of the 10th for the Pirates, who are 0-2 for the first time since 2022. Gonzales, Reynolds and Jake Mangum had two hits apiece.

Mangum’s ninth-inning double was the only extra-base hit of the game prior to Robert’s homer.

The Mets and Pirates were a combined 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position through the first nine innings.

Mets left-hander David Peterson allowed six hits and two walks while striking out three over 5 1/3 innings. Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller gave up three hits and walked none with three strikeouts over six innings.

The Mets got only two runners as far as second base against Keller. The Pirates built their biggest threat against Peterson in the fifth, when Jared Triolo and Ryan O’Hearn delivered two-out singles before Bryan Reynolds walked. But Marcell Ozuna, swinging on a 2-0 pitch, popped out.

–Field Level Media

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Miko Rantanen, Stars double-up Penguins

NHL: Dallas Stars at Pittsburgh PenguinsMar 28, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel (81) fight for the puck during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Miko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and the Dallas Stars tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.

Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points), which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four. The Stars trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in this contest before exploding for three goals, two on the power play, in the second.

Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.

Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (36-21-16, 88 points), which was playing without both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries.

Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at PPG Paints Arena in the past week. The Penguins were outscored 17-6 in those three home contests.

Mantha redirected a Karlsson slapshot to put Pittsburgh in front on a power-play goal just over two minutes into the game.

Hryckowian evened the score for Dallas early in the second period, capitalizing on a broken play that left him wide open in front of the net with the puck.

Karlsson answered for the Penguins 48 seconds later with a wrister for his 13th goal of the season. In the process, he broke two franchise records for defensemen.

The goal was his ninth in March, the most in a single month by a Penguins blueliner. This was also his ninth multi-point game in March, which broke Randy Carlyle’s mark, set in December 1980, for most multi-point games in a single month by a defenseman.

The Stars responded over the next few minutes. Robertson scored on the power play 7:12 into the period to even the game. It was Robertson’s 40th goal, tying him with Wyatt Johnston for the team lead.

Three minutes later, Rantanen, who had missed 15 games in a row with a lower-body injury, tallied his 21st of the season on another power-play opportunity.

Bichsel doubled the Stars’ advantage less than 90 seconds later on a strange sequence. He went behind the goal, stapled to Karlsson, proceeded to throw the Swede’s stick to the floor with no whistle, and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner.

Jake Oettinger improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. He allowed three goals on only 12 shots, as Pittsburgh posted four, five and three shots over the three periods. Stuart Skinner made 20 stops for the Penguins.

Dallas, which entered with the fourth-best road record in the league, improved to 22-8-7 away from home.

–Field Level Media

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