ISU Grand Prix for 2026/27 Begins with Grand Prix de France

French Grand Prix held in Angers, France for Fifth Time

Photos by George S Rossano
Captions by Tatjana Flade

Men Short Program 

Adam Siao Him Fa of France skated to the lead in the Men’s Short Program in front of an enthusiastic home crowd with a brilliant performance to "Take Five“, coming close to his personal best with a score of 102.46 points.

“Take Five is actually a music that I used to skate to ten years ago, which is kind of funny because at the beginning I, I didn't want to skate on it. But it was really different, obviously, to what I was used to do ten years ago and it was very fun to skate. It suited me directly. The whole process of creating the program was very challenging because for me it was a new way to skate, a new way to go for my jumps. We finished the Olympic cycle, so I think it's the right time to try something different, to experiment what can work, what will maybe not work.” 

Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko chose a very entertaining program to a Michael Jackson medley as well but tripled his planned quads to come second at 85,49 points.

“I think I just was nervous.  That's why I did two major mistakes. Just shaky legs, and I think it's just beginning of season. A little bit later I will feel more in shape, and I will do a better job with my jumps.”

Newcomer Minkyu Seo of Korea, who just moved up from the junior ranks got into the top three on 83.83 points.

“I made a few mistakes, so I'm not fully satisfied, but I will be more focused to skate a clean free program.”

Olympic Champion Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan came fourth on 80.25 points.

“I missed the Lutz and I forgot to do a combination. It was not a good day. I didn’t sleep well but this should not be an excuse. You have to skate well no matter the circumstances.”

Men Free Skating

To the delight of the home crowd, Adam Siao Him Fa scored a runaway victory with 36 points to spare (284.24 points). The Frenchman impressed with his emotional performance to “Here Comes the River”.

Before my free skate, there was a lot of happening in my mind actually. Throughout the day, I had a lot of doubt, a lot of stress. I was quite nervous. But I talked a lot with Benoit (Richaud), with Cedric (Tours), to myself also. I tried to keep in mind that I'm here because I like to skate. I'm here because I'm also good at it, and, I wanted to show what I can do, what I'm able to do, and how fun I have when I'm skating. So it was really important to me to, to show how much I love figure skating, and actually it helped me so much to go over the pressure, over the stress. I also used this pressure as a strength. I thought that if I can feel this pressure, I can be more focused. I can be better. I can try to push myself and to, to give my best.”

Performing to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Kao Miura of Japan jumped from ninth to second in the Free Skating, netting 247.96 points.

“I remember very well actually that competition (Grand Prix de France 2024). I do recall very well how Adam did not have the ideal short program, but he had a great free. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I should keep that image in my mind today.’"

Newcomer Minkyu Seo of Korea captured the bronze in his senior-level ISU Grand Prix debut (244.90 points).

“Since it's my first medal on the senior level, I really appreciate it. However, it's not that I did my best, so I still need an effort to do it. I was already happy to compete with the senior skater. 

Pairs Short Program 

Olympic silver medalists Anastasia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia took the lead in the Pairs Short Program with a confident performance to “Ex Cathedra”, netting 77.34 points. 

Luka Berulava: “Our flight from Moscow to Istanbul was delayed 21 hours. It's a very interesting story of how we got here. Our flight landed in Paris, and then we got a private transfer to Angers, and we got here five minutes before our practice session.  We put on our skates in the car and we ran from the car straight to the practice.”

Neutral (Russian) athletes Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii finished second on75.85 points with a strong routine to “Black Panther: Wakanda”.

Dmitrii Kozlovskii: “We’re extremely happy to be here. We were waiting for a long time for this moment. I want to say huge thank you to all spectators for their energy, for their emotion that they gave us today. It means a lot for us to be here.” 

Aleksandra Boikova: It was a little bit nerve-wrecking, of course, because the last time we were performing at a Grand Prix was five years ago and it was in France, but in Grenoble. I think we came back stronger because so many years have passed and so many things have changed.”

Germany’s Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel came third in the Short Program on 67.03 points in what was their first competition of the season. Hocke comes off an ankle injury sustained in June that kept her off the ice for several weeks. 

Robert Kunkel: “I think for everybody competing today, it was special situation because everything was new. You couldn't go to the hotel [because of the protests]. It was a long break here. For us it was very emotional because two weeks ago Annika couldn't even do a triple jump or a triple throw. I would say for today our performance was 100% because we didn't even think two weeks ago we can be here. In general, maybe it was 60%.”

Pairs Free Skating 

Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava of Georgia skated to gold with their Free Skating to “The Feeling Begins”, earning 204.65 points

Luka: “Today we didn’t show our best skating. We can show a much better result and skate much nicer and cleaner. Therefore, I don’t really feel this victory yet, because we didn’t give our best. But we’ll continue to work and will try to improve.”

Five years after their last Grand Prix event, neutral (Russian) athletes Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii came back and claimed the silver medal at 197.66 points.

Dmitrii: "It’s a good result. Returning to the international stage is a big moment for us, but we have to keep working, keep moving forward and see where it takes us.“

Germany’s Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel skated to the bronze in their first competition this season as Hocke is recovering from an ankle injury that kept her off the ice for months. They scored 179.74 points. 

Robert: “It was pretty hard for us because of the injury, it was the third full free program (run-through) we did. The crowd really helped us through, and the program was building up with the music, also with the elements. From the second half, it just feels like an exhibition program. And it was really fun to skate.”

 Ladies, Short Program 

Reigning Four Continents Champion Yuna Aoki of Japan won the Short Program with a playful performance to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, setting a new personal best of 76.31 points.

“I had confidence. The spins and steps are scoring her this season and this is where these five points (more) come from. Coming in, I was not thinking about placements and it was a surprise to be first in the Short Program.”

Georgia’s Anastasia Gubanova posted a new personal best as well for her Tango Short Program (72.63 points).

"As Yuna said, this season we have new rules and we get more points for spins and steps. We’ve put more emphasis on steps and spins in training. Before the event [Trialeti Trophy] in Georgia I had some health issue and I was not ready. I took a little break after Georgia and now I’m better. I think I’m more ready.” 

Olympic bronze medalist Ami Nakai of Japan ranked third in the Short Program on 70.66 points.

“It all started here at the Grand Prix in France and I’m happy to come back here. I don’t feel pressure, I was just looking forward to coming here and enjoy my skating. I popped the triple Axel that came as a surprise and my mind blanked for a second. But as I was composed coming in, I was able to regroup and do the rest of the jumps. I still don’t know why I made a mistake on the triple Axel. I need to go back and discuss with the coaches.

Ladies Free Skate

Ami Nakai of Japan stormed to back-to-back gold medals at the Grand Prix de France. Coming from third place in the Short Program, the Olympic bronze medalist delivered an excellent Free Skating to “An American in Pairs” and jumped on to the top of the podium at 219.74 points.

“To do a repeat was one of my goals but more than that I wanted to have a program that I can be proud of. I’m happy to do both today. When I came here last year, I was a challenger and fearless going in. Many things have happened since then and I was able to perform well in big competitions. This was really the first time I was determined to win. That created a lot of pressure but I was able to overcome that and this is probably where I grew the most.” 

Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova skated off with her first ISU Grand Prix silver medal, setting a new seasons best of 202.82 points.

“This medal means a lot. It gave me back my motivation and gives me strength to continue training. It was a long day today because of the protests and the preparation was not as usual. The organizers here prepared a room for us where we can rest and we were able to recover there and is apparently worked out well for the competition.” 

Lara Naki Gutmann of Italy rose from fourth to earn the bronze, her second Grand Prix medal of her career (202.37 points).

“I’m happy with the crowd response. The Free today felt really god good and I enjoyed a lot of little moments in the choreography. It is amazing for me to bring this amazing feeling for the season.”

Ice Dance, Rhythm Dance

France’s Olympic Champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron of France skated to a five-point lead with their Spanish themed Rhythm Dance, scoring 82.56 points. 

Guillaume Cizeron: “We're very lucky to be starting our season here in France with a really amazing audience. We had really good memories from last year, and it feels like time has flown. Our goal today was to enjoy and have fun together and, and test this new program today that we really love and had a lot of fun choreographing at home.” 

Laurence Fournier Beaudry: “I think that we're all very happy that the Rhythm Dance includes a compulsory dance now. It's a little bit of a humility lesson also, because we get to challenge ourselves with tracking, challenge yourself with the posture, and just really learn to skate together in very established steps.”

Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin of Georgia came second with a Tango and Waltz program on 77.90 points.

Gleb Smolkin: “We're very proud of ourselves. We had a great experience last year here in Angers, and we're very excited to come back here. The crowd is absolutely outstanding. The Rhythm Dance went quite smooth for us. So we're very happy.”

Performing to “My Fair Lady” and “Sing Sing Sing”, Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) are currently ranked third on 77.83 points.

Christina Carreira: “We're really happy to have the pattern dance back.I t's been really fun to work on it. We've had decade dances as a theme for the last few years, so having a classical theme feels really different and new. We knew we wanted a more classical rhythm right away. I wanted to feel like a princess in my waltz.

Anthony Ponomarenko: “This is a Rhythm Dance that we really love and we're passionate about, and skating it today was very fun. We're very proud of the training that we've had coming in, and we're, we're happy to show that and to skate a great Rhythm Dance.”

Ice Dance Free Dance 

Hot favorites and Olympic Champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron of France as expected celebrated a confident victory on home ice. Performing to music by Max Richter, they built on their lead after the Rhythm Dance and totaled 207.57 points.

Guillaume Cizeron: “I'm glad to be here. Last year was unexpected. This year is also unexpected, and sometimes I have to pinch myself and to realize that I'm here still. But I'm really grateful. I obviously love skating, and I love what we've created together. I think with maturityI get to enjoy and appreciate it even more. The more I do it, the more I realize how precious it is, and I think it has a special place in my heart.” 

Laurence Fournier Beaudry: “I think that every competition is a competition in itself. The pressure is always there. We want to skate the best that we can. We want to skate like we are able to and I think we're the hardest judges of ourselves.  So is it different [this year]? I would say no else than we achieved something last year, and we want to achieve something different this year.”

Georgians Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin danced off with the silver, their first ISU Grand Prix medal, scoring 193,93 points. They had changed their Free Dance music for the third time since the beginning of the season and are skating now to "Prelude to a Soul“, "Terra Rossa“ and "Ambivalence“. "Hopefully this was the last music change“, Smolkin commented. 

Gleb Smolkin: "We're obviously very happy, and I think it [the medal] means that, we're on the right track with our coaching team. We’re just trying to improve with every competition.”

“We're trying to tell our personal story and Diana's story. Last season, Diana finally decided to open up about the partial hearing loss that she was diagnosed with as a little kid. She got a huge positive response from the crowd and from the fans and from just strangers, people who had suffered the same issue. They were saying that it was very motivating for them.”

The bronze medal went to Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko with their dramatic Free Dance to the ballet “Manon“ with 189.36 points. 

Christina Carreira: “Last season, we really had trouble finding music that we were passionate about and that we loved, and we didn't really have programs that kind of spoke to us and that we felt connected to. So this season, when we went about picking our music, that was our priority.  I'm not sure how I found the ballet Manon, but I stumbled upon the Royal Ballet's trailer for Manon, and the music they used for it was so hauntingly beautiful that I got goose bumps, and I was really intrigued into the story. The whole team was inspired. Marie-France [Dubreuil] made this free dance, and we created it very quickly.”