American figure skating star Ilia Malinin dominated the field and won the men’s gold medal at Skate Canada International on Sunday.

The reigning world champion received a standing ovation for his vampire-themed free skate – which included a backflip – and won by more than 40 points to claim a Grand Prix title on consecutive weekends.

Malinin also won Skate America in Allen, Texas this past Sunday.

“I’m pretty happy with my skate today,” Malinin said. “It was very difficult to compete in these two Grands Prix in a row, and overall I am quite happy with my performance and how I was able to deal with it.”

The 19-year-old still scored 301.82 points in total. Japan’s Shun Sato (261.16) won silver while South Korea’s Junhwan Cha (260.31) won bronze.

WATCH | Malinin heading to Skate Canada men’s title:

American Ilia Malinin easily wins Skate Canada men’s title in Halifax

With a score of 301.82, Ilia Malinin dominated his free skate on Sunday, winning the Skate Canada men’s title.

Malinin’s only mistake was a quadruple loop during the fourth segment of his program.

“I’m a little disappointed with the loop,” he said. “But it is what it is. When it happened, I just had to put it aside for the moment and continue with the rest of the program.

“I always challenge myself. That’s my main competition, it’s just being able to fight from the start to the end of a program. Of course, my goal was to do this quad loop here too, but that didn’t happen.”

Aleksa Rakic ​​of Burnaby, British Columbia, scored 222.49 and was the top Canadian, finishing seventh among the 12 skaters.

WATCH | Rakic ​​finishes 7th in Halifax:

Aleksa Rakic ​​​​finishes best Canadian at Skate Canada

Aleksa Rakic ​​of Burnaby, British Columbia, finished seventh with a score of 222.49 at Skate Canada in Halifax on Sunday.

“Getting this score is proof of my improvements,” Rakic ​​said. “Last year or two years ago I should have been absolutely perfect. Here I made mistakes and missed elements, that means I can score even more points.”

Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev (216.84) dropped to ninth after finishing fifth in the short program.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., withdrew for medical reasons after finishing last in the short program on Saturday.

Later Sunday, ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will compete in the free dance, Skate Canada’s final event. Gilles and Poirier ranked first after the free program, ahead of their compatriots Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha.

Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps repeated as pairs champions on Saturday, while three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan won gold in the women’s event.

The Grand Prix, the highest series in figure skating, consists of six events and a final. Next up is the French Grand Prix from November 1-3.