By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator
Photos by Robin Ritoss
The 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series kicked off Oct. 17 in Angers, France. The first of six events saw some as expected results, but there were some surprising and a bit shocking results as well.
Women
There was a surprise at the top of the leaderboard after the women’s short program as Japan’s Ami Nakai sat in first place ahead of three-time World Champion Kaori Sakamoto, also of Japan, by 1.80 points. Nakai, who is making her senior Grand Prix debut this season, earned a 78.00 in the short program, crushing her personal best short program score by nine points. She did open her short program with a triple Axel.
In her “What a Wonderful World” free skate, Nakai opened with a triple Axel, but put her hand down on the landing. She did cleanly complete seven other triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-double Axel-double Axel sequence. She earned 149.08 points in the free skate and a total score of 227.08, both personal best scores to claim the gold medal in her senior Grand Prix debut.
Nakai is headed next to Skate Canada International in two weeks.
The crowd in France loved Sakamoto’s free skate to Edith Piaf’s “Hymne a l’amour” and “Je ne regrette rien”, that included seven triple jumps. Her triple flip-triple toe combination was in the second half of the program, which earned her a 10% bonus. She did lose a level on one of her combination spins. She earned a season’s best free score of 148.03 and a total score of 224.23 to claim the silver medal, her 12th Grand Prix medal.
Sakamoto will compete next at NHK Trophy in front of a home crowd.
Japan’s Rion Sumiyoshi was in fourth place after the short program, just a little more than two points out of third. In her Adiemus free skate, Sumiyoshi went for the quadruple toe-loop, but it was under-rotated. She completed six triples, including a triple Lutz-triple toe combination and a triple flip-double Axel-double toe-loop sequence, both in the second half of the program. Sumiyoshi moved up to the bronze medal position with a personal best free skate score of 145.03 and an overall score of 216.06. This is her fourth consecutive bronze medal at the Grand Prix de France.
Her next Grand Prix event is Finlandia Trophy, the last Grand Prix event of the series.
The 2024 World silver medalist Isabeau Levito, of the U.S., who was in third after the short program, dropped to fourth overall with a free skate score of 139.34 and total score of 212.71. Her Cinema Paradiso free skate included seven triple jumps, but she stumbled on her triple flip-triple toe combination and the toe was called under-rotated. Levito will now compete at Skate Canada International in two weeks.
In front of a home crowd, France’s Lorine Schild earned a personal best free skate score (126.86) and a personal best total score of 189.31 to finish in fifth place, her best result at a Grand Prix event since her fifth place finish at Grand Prix Espoo in 2023. Schild will next compete at Finlandia Trophy.
Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim finished in sixth place with a free skate score of 125.35 and an overall score of 187.59 points. She will compete at Skate America in Lake Placid in mid-November. Teammate Jia Shin, the four-time Junior World silver medalist, finished in 7th place in her senior Grand Prix debut. She will compete next week in Cup of China.
Men
It did not come as a surprise seeing Ilia Malinin’s name a top of the leaderboard after the short program, with an almost 10-point lead over Georgia’s Nika Egazde.
And in the free skate, Malinin continues to show that he’s in a league of his own as he won his sixth Grand Prix gold medal, winning the event by more than 40 points. In his “The Ball”, “The Smell of the Sea” and “Code Duello” free skate, the two-time World Champion executed five quadruple jumps, include a quadruple Salchow-triple Axel sequence in the second-half of the program, which earned him 20.99 points. Malinin’s only mistake was his second quadruple Lutz in a sequence with a Euler and triple flip was called slightly under-rotated. He earned a season’s best free skate score of 215.78 and a total score of 321.00, which was also a season’s best.
Malinin will head to Skate Canada International in two weeks.
Malinin hasn’t lost an event since the 2023 Grand Prix de France when France’s Adam Siao Him Fa won the free skate and moved up from second place to take the gold medal ahead of Malinin. But in the 2025 edition of Grand Prix de France, Siao Him Fa saw himself more than 20-points out of first, sitting in fifth place after the short program. 
In his “Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” free skate, the 2024 World bronze medalist completed four quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Lutz and quadruple toe-loop triple toe-loop combination. His only mistake was a slightly under-rotated triple Salchow. Siao Him Fa set a new season’s best free skate score of 196.08 and a total score of 280.95 to move up from fifth-place to claim the silver medal.
He will compete next at Finlandia Trophy.
Grand Prix de France was Georgia’s Nika Egazde’s third competition in three weeks. Sitting in second after the short program, Egadze’s “Sailing” and “Verve” free skate included a quadruple toe, quadruple Salchow and two triple Axels. He did receive an under-rotation on a triple toe. He earned a free skate score of 163.74, which was fourth in the free skate. He won the bronze medal, his first Grand Prix medal, with an overall score of 259.41.
Egadze will get a week off from competition before competing at Skate Canada International.
2025 European Champion Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland sat in seventh place after some mistakes in the short program. However, his Journey through the Orient free skate was the third best free skate of the event (170.36) and he moved up to fourth-place with an overall score of 249.04. Britschgi will next compete at NHK Trophy.
France’s Francois Pitot, who was in eighth place after the short program, moved up to finish fifth overall with an overall score of 233.98. This is Pitot’s second Grand Prix season and his best placement at a Grand Prix event. He will also be competing at NHK Trophy.
U.S. silver medalist Andrew Torgashev, who was in last place after the short program, jumped six spots to finish sixth overall (233.36). His second Grand Prix event is also NHK Trophy.
Japan’s Kao Miura, who was third after the short program, had several mistakes including two falls in his free skate. He dropped to 10th place. Miura is looking to rebound from this event at Skate Canada International in two weeks.
Pairs
It was the battle of the two recent World Champions with 2025 World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan and 2024 World Champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada going head-to-head in Angers. But it was Miura and Kihara who took the title, their fourth ISU Grand Prix gold medal, by more than 21-points.
Miura and Kihara had a less than 5-point lead over Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps after the short program. In their Gladiator free skate, Miura and Kihara completed a high triple twist, throw triple flip and throw triple loop, as well as side-by-side triple Salchows. Their only mistakes was that Miura singled the two Axels in sequence with the triple toe. They also received a minus 0.15 grade of executive in the final lift of their free skate. They earned a free skate score of 139.71, which was first in the free skate, and a total score of 219.15 points to win the gold.
Miura and Kihara will next compete at Skate America.
In the short program, the Canadians did the first-ever assisted backflip in a Grand Prix event. But the team had an uncharacteristic mistake at the beginning of their “Poeta en el Mar” and “Amor Dulce Muerte” by Vicente Amigo free skate, when they singled their planned triple twist. The team received a slight under-rotation on the second double Axel in their triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, and they doubled their planned triple salchow. Stellato-Dudek also touched the ice in the landing of the throw triple loop. They scored 123.40 points in the free skate, which was second in the free skate and they remained in second place overall with 197.66 points.
They will prepare to compete in two weeks at their home Grand Prix event, Skate Canada International.
Hungary’s Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko, who were in third after the short program, debuted their “Without You” free skate, which featured a triple twist, throw triple Lutz and throw triple loop. Their back outside death spiral was only a level two and they had a mistake with their planned triple toe-loop-double Axel-double Axel sequence.
Pavlova and Sviatchenko earned a free skate score of 122.61 points and an overall score of 192.76 to claim the bronze medal. This is the Hungarian’s team’s fourth ISU Grand Prix medal. They will compete next at NHK Trophy.
Team USA’s Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman were fourth in both segments of the event and finished fourth overall with a total score of 178.08, which was their best finish at a Grand Prix event. They will compete next week at Cup of China. Their teammates, Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy, finished in 5th place (173.30) in their Grand Prix debut as a team. Sixth through 8th place were the French teams of Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev, Aurelie Faula and Theo Belle, Megan Wessenberg and Denys Strekalin respectively.
Dance
The next team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron moved up from third place after the short program to win their first Grand Prix gold medal as a team.
For a recap of the dance event, visit Ice-Dance.com.
