US star Ilia Malinin defended his world figure skating title on Saturday with a dominant display on the ice inside Boston’s packed TD Garden.

“Let’s get this party started!” That was Ilia Malinin’s message to the ticketholders on the Hub Vision screen before he took the ice at TD Garden on Thursday afternoon. The men’s short program at the World Figure Skating Championships had been underway for five and a half hours and more than three dozen competitors already had skated.

The American sensation landed six quad jumps to repeat as world champion and cement his status as the Olympic favorite.