Photos by Robin Ritoss
Six years ago, a then 14-year-old Alysa Liu stood on top of a podium at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York. The event was the Junior Grand Prix and it was Liu’s first international event. Now Liu stands on top of the podium again inside the historic 1980 Olympic rink, winning her first Senior Grand Prix gold medal.
In second after the short program, the 2025 World champion had six clean triple jumps in her “MacArthur Park Suite” free skate, which is from last season. Her triple toe in her triple Lutz-triple toe combination, and her double Axel were called under-rotated. She earned a season’s best free skate score of 140.54, which was first in the segment. She earned a total score of 214.27 to win gold in Lake Placid.
“It does mean a lot that I’m able to honestly just be at such a big competition like the Grand Prix in general,” Liu told the media after the free skate. “Whether I’m on the podium or not, I’m glad that I was able to take that stage and perform. Although, I do wish I performed a little bit better, there were a few things that I would definitely elevate. I’m just really glad that my devotion to creation has led me to this point.”
“I didn’t like how my jumps were today, but I tied my skates a little bit too tight when I went out there,” she continued. “One good thing about making so many mistakes in a program is that I’m so motivated to not make any more mistakes in my next program. I’m going to work a lot harder on all my jumps and running my programs as well. I’m excited to be able to showcase more programs at the Final.”
With silver at Cup of China and gold at Skate America, Liu has qualified for her first Grand Prix Final.
The leader after the short program was Japan’s Rinka Watanabe, who landed a triple Axel in the short program. In her “Jin” free skate, she opened the program with a triple Axel-triple toe combination. She attempted a second triple Axel, but she stepped out of it and the jump was downgraded. The technical panel was extremely tough on Watanabe as she had three jumps called under-rotated. She finished third in the free skate with a free skate score of 136.61. She took the silver medal with an overall score of 210.96.
“This is the second year in a row that I came second at Skate America and I’m a bit relieved that I wasn’t too bad,” the Japanese skater said. “However, my qualification for the Final has not been decided yet, and I am a bit frustrated about my results. But I did what I could and I’m happy about that.”
With a silver at Skate America and bronze at Cup of China, Watanabe will have to wait for the results from Finlandia Trophy to find out if she made it to the Final.
Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova, who was in fourth after the short program, opened her “Ghost” free skate with a triple flip-triple toe combination. She also landed four other clean triple jumps. Gubanova earned a free skate score of 136.62 points, which was second in the segment. She finished third overall with 204.69 points. This was her second ISU Grand Prix medal since 2022.
“This medal means a lot to me because all these past seasons I didn’t skate so well at the Grand Prix, but finally everything here went well, so I’m really happy,” Gubanova shared.
With a fourth place finish at Cup of China and a third place finish at Skate America, Gubanova has 20 points and is not likely to make the Final.
Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann, who was in third after the short program, dropped to fourth overall with a score of 204.29. She missed the podium by less than half a point. The mistake that cost her a medal was she doubled a planned triple loop in her “Jaws” free skate, which earned a score of 134.60. She was fifth at her first Grand Prix event, Skate Canada International, so she’s not in contention for a Grand Prix Final spot and will now prepare for Italian Nationals next month.
Team USA’s Starr Andrews delivered two strong skates in Lake Placid and finished the event in fifth place (195.28). This was Andrews’ only Grand Prix event this season, and her last Grand Prix event as a singles skater as she announced via a U.S. Figure Skating article that she plans to try out pairs next season.
2025 ISU Four Continents Champion Chaeyeon Kim of Korea finished sixth with188.22 points.
Men
The men’s event was full of surprises and disappointments. And after a 10th place finish at Skate Canada International just two weeks ago, it was a bit of a surprise to see France’s Kevin Aymoz at the top of the podium, claiming his first-ever ISU Grand Prix title after eight seasons on the Grand Prix circuit. In his “Bolero” free skate, Aymoz landed two quadruple toe jumps. The second quadruple toe was a quarter short of the full four revolutions. Aymoz did nail a triple Axel-double Axel sequence, but his second triple Axel was downgraded. He earned a free skate score of 159.97, which was second in the segment, but he moved up to first place with 253.53 points. Aymoz was very emotional after finding out he won his first Grand Prix title. He is also battling a foot injury this season.
“When I woke up this morning I was going for the win,” Aymoz said. “I said go big or go home. I have no chance to go to the Final. I thought – try your best, just try and practice. The competition was really difficult because honestly the last full program with music I did was at Skate Canada.”
Since Aymoz was 10th at Skate Canada International, he did not receive any points for that event. So with only his 15 points from Skate America, he will not make the ISU Grand Prix Final.
2025 World silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov, who was in third after the short program, opened his “Confessa” and “Diva Dance” free skate with his trademark triple Axel-Euler-quadruple Salchow. He also nailed his quadruple Lutz, but then the program fell apart. He fell on the quadruple flip, which was also under-rotated. The same thing happened on the quadruple toe, and his second quadruple toe was a quarter short of the full four revolutions. Despite the mistakes, he still earned 161.42 points, which was first in the free skate. He pulled up to second place with a total score of 251.09.
“Skate America was really difficult for me, but I fought,” Shaidorov said.
Shaidorov has 24 points with his bronze and silver medal from his Grand Prix events. He has qualified for his second Grand Prix Final.
Japan’s Kazuki Tomono, who was the leader after the short program, had a difficult free skate. He opened his “Halston” free skate with falls on both of his quadruple toe jumps. He did managed to land a quadruple Salchow and two triple Axels, one in combination with a Euler and a double Salchow. The Four Continents silver medalist earned a free skate score of 149.80, which was eighth in the segment. He dropped to third overall and took the bronze medal.
“It was a bit of a challenging competition, but I was able to be aggressive and push towards the end,” Tomono said following the free skate. “Although there were some regrets, it was a bit frustrating, I’m glad I never gave up.”
Tomono was fourth at Skate Canada International and has 20 points.
Team USA’s Jason Brown kicked off his Grand Prix Series at Skate America. Brown is skating to “Riverdance” for his short program. “Riverdance” was the music Brown skated to for his free skate in his first Grand Prix 12 years ago. The program went on to become an iconic program of his after he brought the house down inside the TD Garden in Boston at the U.S. Championships in 2014 and was named to the 2014 Olympic team. In his “Say Something” free skate, Brown executed two triple Axels, though one was called a quarter short of the full three and half revolutions. Some of his other mistakes in the free skate included doubling a planned triple Salchow and an under-rotated triple flip. He earned a free skate score of 156.90, which was third in the free skate. He moved up from fifth place to finish in fourth place overall (239.59).
Brown was leaving Lake Placid Sunday to head to Helsinki, Finland, to compete in his second Grand Prix event, Finlandia Trophy, later this week.
Italy’s Daniel Grassl finished fifth with a total score of 236.44. With his silver at Cup of China, Grassl finished the Grand Prix with 20 points. Azerbaijan’s Vladimir Litvintsev came in sixth place with an overall score of 231.84. His free skate was a crowd favorite and earned a standing ovation.
Pairs
Unfortunately, the free program segment was rough for the pairs in the Lake Placid. Missed lifts, a fall on pair spins and other mistakes plagued the top teams. In the end, it was reigning World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who claimed gold at Skate America, their second consecutive gold at this event.
In their Gladiator free skate, Miura and Kihara executed side-by-side triple Salchow, throw triple Lutz and throw triple loop. Their only mistake was with their first side-by-side jumping pass.
They earned a free skate score of 141.57, which was first in the segment. They moved up from second in the short program with a total score of 215.99.
“We did end up making a small mistake but I’m still very proud of ourselves for achieving scores in the 140s,” Miura said. “I think that is going to make way for more confidence in future competitions.”
With their gold at Grand Prix de France and Skate America, Miura and Kihara have qualified for the Grand Prix Final next month in Nagoya, Japan.
The leaders after the short program were Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava. They had a four point lead over the World champions after earning a personal best short program score of 78.83. But the free skate was disastrous for the two-time Junior World Champions. In their “Keeping Me Alive” program, Metelkina fell on the side-by-side triple Salchow and also struggled with the side-by-side triple toe. Then halfway through the program, Berulava was unable to get Metelkina up in their Group 5 Axel Lasso lift. They received no credit for the element. They earned a free skate score of 116.90, which was well-below their season’s best free skate score of 148.07, which they set at their home Challenger Series event, Trialeti Trophy. They were fourth in the free skate, but still manage to stay on the podium and take the silver medal with a total score of 195.73. That score was also well below their season’s best of 225.20.
“Unfortunately, our performance today did not work out, but we will work hard, we want to improve, we also will work on the mental side,” Berulava commented. “As for the lift, we are not sure yet what happened there, but it is the job of the boy to lift the girl and I didn’t do that today. I apologize for that.”
With silver at Skate America and gold at Cup of China, Metelkina and Berulava have qualified for their second Grand Prix Final.
Canada’s Kelly-Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier were in sixth place after the short program. In their “Say Something” free skate, they nailed their side-by-side triple Salchows, throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow. They earned a free skate score of 121.58, which was a personal best score. The score was also second in the segment. They earned a total score of 182.87, which was good enough for the bronze medal. This is the team’s second Grand Prix medal. They won the bronze at Skate America in 2022.
“For us, it’s kind of a full circle moment,” Ethier shared. “We medaled at our first Grand Prix here in Skate America three years ago, and now to be back on the podium feels really good. It’s a good tap on the back and good news for confidence.”
With their 5th place finish at Skate Canada International and the bronze at Skate America, the team finishes with 18 points and is unlikely to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.
Team USA’s Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, who competed last week at NHK Trophy and were last minute replacements at this event, finished the event in fourth place. Their Ghost free skate included side-by-side triple Salchow-double Axel sequence, and a throw triple loop. They got an under-rotation on the side-by-side triple toe jumps and Chan fell on the throw triple flip. They earned a free skate score of 118.51, which was third in the free skate, and a total score of 180.02.
Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel dropped from third to fifth place overall with a total score of 176.56. They also couldn’t get their Group 5 Axel Lasso lift up. Armenia’s Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin, who were fourth after the short program, finished 6th overall with a score of 170.98. They got no credit for their pair spin as they fell on the element and had mistakes on their side-by-side and throw jumps.
Dance
Three-time World champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates claim their ninth ISU Grand Prix gold medal and have qualified for their ninth Grand Prix Final.
For more on the ice-dance event in Lake Placid, visit Ice-Dance.com.
