BOSTON (Kyodo) -- Japan's Yuma Kagiyama finished third as Ilia Malinin of the United States eased to his second straight men's title at the figure skating world championships on Saturday.

After three straight runner-up finishes, Kagiyama settled for bronze in his fourth appearance at the tournament as he failed to build on his second-place finish in Thursday's short program, coming 10th in the free skate at TD Garden in Boston.

Kagiyama fell with his quad toe loop and logged 171.10 for the segment to total 278.19 points. Malinin scored 208.15 on the day to win overwhelmingly, collecting 318.56.

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, third after the short program, moved above Kagiyama to claim silver on 287.47.

"I'm really frustrated. I got a bit flustered," Kagiyama said. "My jumps were so bad my heart was almost shattered (while performing). I'll take the result unreservedly and look to move forward."

The event served as a qualifier for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics next year. Japan, which had debutant Shun Sato finish sixth and Tatsuya Tsuboi 21st, guaranteed a maximum of three skaters could compete in Italy.

The 2026 world championships will be held in Prague in March.