EVERETT, Washington — Ilia Malinin showed a little rust in his first competitive skate since March, but it was still enough to take the lead at Saatva Skate America.

Malinin landed a quadruple flip and triple Axel, but then under-rotated a quad Lutz and tacked a double toe onto it rather than a triple toe. He scored 96.74 points at the most prestigious annual international event held in the U.S.

He takes a 5.45-point lead over Sota Yamamoto of Japan going into Saturday’s free skate (9:30 p.m. ET, Peacock and NBCSN).

Skate America continues Saturday starting at 5 p.m. ET with the rhythm dance and women’s short program before the men’s free skate and pairs’ free skate, all live on Peacock.

Malinin had his 14-event win streak dating to 2023 snapped at the Milan Cortina Olympics, where he went from first after the short program to eighth overall after a disastrous 15th-place free skate.

He rebounded to win a third consecutive world title to finish his season in March.

Malinin eschewed competing in a lower-level event in September, like he has in past years, to make his season debut on the top-level Grand Prix Series.

If all goes to plan, he’ll compete three times over the next month. After Skate America, he’s slated for NHK Trophy two weeks from now.

There, he’ll hope to qualify for December’s Grand Prix Final, an event he won each of the last three seasons.