Top stars and newcomers are starting at the first Grand Prix this season, the Grand Prix de France 2025 in Angers (FRA).
Ami Nakai wins the Women’s Short Program on her way to the top
In the Women’s SP the Japanese skater Ami Nakai surprised everyone but not herself with a new personal best score of 78.00 points. She showed a clean program including a clean triple-Axel and a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in her routine to “La Strada”. Nakai is taking the lead in front of the 3-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) and Isabeau Levito (USA).
“Having moved up from juniors to seniors, I was looking forward to skating with many great skaters on this very big stage,” Nakai said.
“Today I was able to skate a clean Short Program, land my triple Axel and exceed my personal best. After I finished my performance, I was very happy. I was not surprised with how I did, but when my score came up, I was so happy that I jumped up,” she added.
When asked about the focus of the preseason, Nakai replied: “The focus was on consistent execution of the triple Axel.”
Performing to “Time to Say Goodbye”, Kaori Sakamoto scored 76.20 points, a new season’s best. Her highlights were a triple flip-triple toe loop combination, the triple Lutz and her excellent footwork.
“During my performance, there were some moments where I came close to making a mistake,” Sakamoto said. "But overall, my performance is getting better. I still got a very high score of 76 points and I am pretty pleased with it,” she added.
Levito, the 2024 World silver medalist achieved a season's best of 73.37 points. Levito came up with a new program to music from Sophia Loren movies “The Houseboat” and “The Millionaires”. “I did it as exhibition program in Oberstdorf,” she said. “I Iove it,” she added.
The reigning World Champions Miura/Kihara take the lead in the Pairs Short Program in Angers
Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) took the lead in front of Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) and Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN).
Miura/Kihara sizzled in their program to “Paint It Black” with a high triple twist, a throw triple flip and a level-four lift as highlights. They earned a score of 79.44 points.
“Last year when we got this program, it was close to perfection,” Miura said. “Shae-Lynn (Bourne, choreographer) made this program for us. From start to finish it is packed with elements and transitions and we thought it couldn’t get any better than that,” she added. “But last summer we had a camp with her, we had a week to brush up the program, and she made it even better,” she continued.
Stellato-Dudek/ Deschamps earned for her “Carmina Burana” program a season’s best score of 74.26 points. The highlight of the program was when Stellato-Dudek did a backflip from her partner’s chest – and the crowd went wild.
Pavlova/Sviatchenko are returning from injury. They were happy to achieve a new personal best of 70.15 points in their first competition of the season.
“We feel amazing and very happy. It was my little dream to get over 70 points in the Short Program and that dream came true today" Pavlova said.
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) win the Rhythm Dance
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) took the lead in the Ice Dance event. On second place came in Allison Read/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU). The new French team Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron achieved a third place in its Grand Prix debut.
Wearing the Union Jack Fear/Gibson earned in their “Spice Girls” routine a confidential lead.
“We really worked hard on the technical side this season as the foundation,” Fear said. “But then for us, it's always perform, perform, perform. It's what we love to do the most and it’s our strength. Combining those two and making it one cohesive product has been a huge goal of ours. It really showed up for us today and that's very gratifying,” She added.
Allison Read/Saulius Ambrulevicius are already in the middle of the season. In order to secure their quota place for the Olympic Games in Milan, they began their season preparations earlier than ever before.
“The summer was pretty jam-packed, a little stressful, but achieving that goal (Olympic qualification) in Beijing was a weight off our shoulders and a relief,” Reed shared. “So we come into our Grand Prix series enjoying the experience more, enjoying being on the ice together. We are just very happy with the performance today. It was great,” she added.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron thrilled the French crowed in their Grand Prix debut with her dance to “Vogue”.
“We had a good moment on the ice; this is our first international competition,” Cizeron, the 2022 Olympic Champion, said. “I think it was not far from perfect, except that I put down my knee in the choreo step, the last element. In Ice Dance nowadays, this costs lot of points. So we are happy with the performance, but a bit disappointed about the error.”
The reigning European Champions Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) placed fifth with their Backstreet Boys medley. They have got for their pattern dance type sequence only a level one.
Ami Nakai (JPN) wins her Grand Prix debut in Angers
The second place went to Kari Sakamoto, followed by Rion Sumiyoshi on third place.
Ami Nakai took the second step. In a women's event with spectacular performances, she withstood the pressure and won in her first year as a senior.
“I came here aiming for a podium, so when I saw the score and realized I was first, my brain froze and stopped working and then the tears came flowing,” Nakai said. “My coach was sitting beside me and patted my back and then I realized everything that was going on. “I never thought I would be able to win, so am happy about the result,” she continued. “But I want to make sure it will not put pressure on me. I want to enjoy myself and prepare for the next event.”
Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) thrilled the audience with her program to Edith Piaf. The three-time ISU World Champion reeled off seven triple jumps, but lost a few points in her spins.
“Every event that I came second feels had a big significance,” Sakamoto commented. “This event itself was significant for me – there are a lot of things to take as a lesson and to grow. I am not going to leave it at this, and I plan to get better and better throughout the season.”
Rion Sumiyoshi finished third again at the Grand Prix de France. She was able to land a triple toe, but only under-rotated. She finally earned a personal best of 216.06 points.
World champion Ilia Malinin (USA) with a clear lead in the Men’s Short Program
Luka Egadze (GEO) took second place. Kao Miura was currently in third place.
Ilia Malinin showed clear quad flip, triple Axel, quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination and acrobatic steps. With his outstanding performance he earned 105.22 points and sizzled the crowd.
“Overall, it's a really good starting position. I feel really confident in everything, but it was a little on the sloppier side that I'm used to. There's a lot more that I can improve, just the quality of the jumps, the steps and the spins, to get everything more organized and cleaned up,” Malinin said.
Nika Egadze was skating to Georgian music by Mgzavrebi, achieved a personal best score of 95.67 points. "This music is really close to my heart,” he shared.
The GP de France is his third competition in three weeks. “I think my biggest mistake was to do three competitions in a row, but I was fine today,” Egadze commented. “I hope I will survive the long program tomorrow, and that I will get one day rest. After that I’ll go to Skate Canada.”
Kao Miura finished third. He landed a quad Salchow-triple toe loop combination but he under-rotated his triple Axel and quadruple toe. The Japanese skater earned 87.25 points.
Riku Miura/ Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) win her fourth title at GP de France
Silver went to Deanna Stellato-Dudek/ Maxime Deschamps (CAN), followed by Maria Pavlova/ Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN), who won bronze.
The reigning World Pairs Champion started with a high triple twist into their captivating “Gladiator” program but Miura only singled the two Axels in the combination with a triple toe. They earned accumulated 219.15 points.
“We were able to finish our performance without getting injured. I would give ourselves 120% as a mark,” Kihara said. “Every time I go on the ice and perform, I pray that I will not injure Riku, and I will not get injured myself. Obviously, there are always things that we can improve on, but I'd like to put a positive spin on things,” he added.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek/ Maxime Deschamps were not able to show a program without mistakes. They singled the twist, also their toe loop-Axel combination was not clear. But they recovered and remained their second place at 197.66 points.
“The twist never happened before in practice,” Stellato-Dudek said. “Our alignment must have been off. I hit his foot on my toe pick, and my right foot got caught on his leg, so I couldn't move it to initiate the rotation. It was equally as shocking to us, as I'm sure it was to everyone else.”
Deschamps added: “It's always difficult for any athlete when your first element doesn't go well, especially as a surprise. It doesn't give you a good momentum. To get back together was harder, and you have to fight through the whole program because of that.”
Maria Pavlova/ Alexei Sviatchenko also lost points in their toe loop - Axel sequence and in the death spiral. They came in with 192.76 points overall and bronze.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) win gold in their Grand Prix debut
Silver went to Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson ahead of Allison Read/Saulius Ambrulevicius who came in third.
Coming from the third place in the Rhythm Dance they showed an outstanding freestyle to mystic music “The Wale”. With her complex footwork and fascinating lifts, they sizzled the home crowd. They seem to establish a new style right away. In comparison, the other programs looked rather staid.
“We're really happy with the performance and the feeling that we had today,” Cizeron said. "It felt amazing remembering how much we love competing and doing this first competition together.”
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson showed their Scottish inspired Free Dance to “I’m Gonna be (500 miles)”, “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond” and “Auld Lang Syne”. The British Dance couple showed their entertainment skills and excellent lifts. They came in second place with less than one point behind.
“We're just so proud of that performance,” Fear noted. “It felt similar to what we've been training, that aliveness. And then having that added layer of a crowd that is so supportive, and wants to be entertained, is just such a joy, and something that we love more than anything in the world.
Allison Read/Saulius Ambrulevicius were satisfied with their program to “God Is a DJ” and “We Come 1” by Faithless. They came in with a new season’s best of 201.05 points and won bronze.
Ilia Malinin (USA) wins in front of a sold-out crowd by a record margin
After a fantastic free skate, Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) finished second. Nika Egadze (GEO) secured bronze.
Quad God Ilia Malinin did not disappoint the crowd. The reigning ISU World Champion won with 40 points to spare. Performing to “The Ball” and “The Smell of the Sea”, Malinin delivered 5 quadruple jumps and a backflipp.
“I feel very confident and happy with how things went,” Malinin commented. “I did feel very nervous going out there today. The goal for today was simply to make it to the end in one piece. That’s always the goal for competitions. I’m sure I’ll be adding more technical content as the season progresses,” he continued.
After finishing fifth the day before, Adam Siao Him Fa went on full attack. He made the home crowd go wild. He showed four quads and two triple Axels in his routine “The Creation of Adam”. He came in with a new season’s 280.95 points and won silver.
“The main difference today was that I was having fun,“ Siao Him Fa said. “I didn’t care about results, points, anything. I was just enjoying the moment. Actually, it’s funny, in training, the Short Program was going better than the Free Skate, but it turned out the opposite here."
Nika Egadze showed a strong performance of his program to “Sailing” and “Verve”. After two fourth places last year he finally won with bronze his first Grand Prix medal.
When asked about their experiences with mental coaching, the men spoke about their different experiences. Siao Him Fa takes the coaching seriously. Malinin, on the other hand, relies on his cat for relaxation, while Egadze prefers his (fast) car.