BOSTON – American Ilia Malinin is embracing the pressure of defending his figure-skating world title in Boston, where skaters are still grappling with the emotion of a deadly January plane crash.

Twenty-eight of the 67 people who died when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter in Washington on Jan 30 were members of the skating community – including several young US skaters returning from a training camp in Kansas accompanied by their parents or coaches.

At Boston’s TD Garden, home of NBA champions the Boston Celtics, a tribute will be paid to the victims on March 26 (March 27, Singapore time), the first day of competition.

But thoughts of the tragedy promise to linger beyond the official tribute over the course of the four-day competition.

Two skaters, two coaches and two parents from the Boston Skating Club were among those who died, while three young skaters who trained with Malinin’s Washington Skating club perished.

“I’ll always have them in my head and in my heart, just remembering them,” Malinin said.

“Still some days I have some of those thoughts... It does upset me a little bit that some days I wouldn’t be able to see them on the ice training with me.

“This worlds I really want to dedicate to everyone on that flight (and) just really give my all in that performance and really just make it worth it for them.”

Despite the lingering sentiments, these championships are also about looking forward, specifically to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics less than a year away.

Quotas for national Olympic teams will be allocated based on results in Boston, where Malinin is the overwhelming favourite to win a second successive title.

Since he burst onto the international scene in 2022, he has established himself as skating’s new phenomenon, with everything it takes to be the star of the next Olympic Games.

France’s Adam Siao and Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama will do their utmost to keep him – and the podium in their sights, but the most pressure Malinin looks likely to face is that he feels to defend his title on home ice.

“Right now I’m still in that zone of just being excited to go there and perform,” the 20-year-old said.

“But I know that in a few days I might start to feel that pressure of ...