The 20-year-old skater, who was born in Fairfax, Va., landed a quadruple Axel and five other quadruple jumps to claim the men's title by a commanding margin. His score of 318.56 points was 31.09 points ahead of silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan. Yuma Kagiyama from Japan struggled in the free skate but hung onto the bronze.

American figure skater took the first step in the defense of his World Championship with a 110.41 score in the men's short program.

Ilia Malinin defended his world title with a free skate that earned a standing ovation inside TD Garden on Saturday night, capping a memorable home championships for the Americans, who won three gold medals in the four figure skating events to give them a wave of momentum heading into an Olympic year.