Adam Siao Him Fa seized a commanding 36.28-point margin over Japan’s Kao Miura to win his home Grand Prix for the fourth time. The French singles skater established his dominance early by landing three quadruple jumps in the free skate, building upon a 16.97-point lead earned with two quads in his jazzy short program.
Siao Him Fa previously finished third at the World Championships. He also took fourth and fifth at the last three World Championships. Siao Him Fa serves as France’s top singles skater as the sport enters a quadrennial cycle culminating in a home Olympics in Lyon. Behind him, Kao Miura of Japan surged from ninth place after the short program to take second overall with a total of 247.96 points, overcoming an early fall. South Korea’s Seo Min-kyu placed third with 244.90 points during his Grand Prix debut.
Mikhail Shaidorov Stumbles on Return
The opening event brought trouble for Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov.
It's the final day of GP France! Set that alarm and let's finish strong! 💪⛸️: Pairs and men's free skates⏰: 6:30 a.m. ET📍: Angers, France💻: https://t.co/u8fwnT47q8#GPFigure pic.twitter.com/kTm8Eiv2wR
The Kazakhstan skater fell twice, including on a quadruple toeloop, and under-rotated his other three quads in the worst-scoring free skate of the day, dropping from fourth to 10th overall. He stared down at the ice and ran his hand across his hair as he finished the skate.
The Associated Press
Ami Nakai Defends Women’s Crown
Today, until my name was called, I couldn’t really believe in myself or trust myself, But then I realized so many people were here in the audience to support me, so then I was able to trust myself and I’m so happy that I was able to deliver a good performance.
Ami Nakai, Olympic bronze medalist
French and Georgian Pairs Win Ice Dance and Pairs
France’s Olympic champion ice dance team, Laurence Fournier Beaudry won her event. Guillaume Cizeron also competed on that team. They opened their season with a commanding victory, scoring 207.57 points to finish nearly 14 points ahead of Georgia’s Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko earned bronze with 189.36 points, marking the first United States medal of the Grand Prix series.
In the pairs competition, European champions Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava secured the title for Georgia with a total score of 204.65 despite a heavy fall by Metelkina on a throw triple loop. They held off the challenge from neutral athletes Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii from Russia, who finished second with 197.66 points in their first top-tier international appearance since placing fourth at the 2022 Olympics. Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel claimed bronze with 179.74 points for their first Grand Prix medal since 2023. This event marked the return of Russian and Belarusian entries to the Grand Prix series under neutral status following their ban after the 2021-22 season.
More on Grand Prix
Set an early alarm! ⏰ Day 2 of GP France starts at 6:30 a.m. ET with four events on deck.⛸️: Men's short program, free dance, pairs short program and women's free skate⏰: 6:30 a.m. ET📍: Angers, France💻: https://t.co/u8fwnT47q8#GPFigure pic.twitter.com/1ziFRS0RW0
Back on top in Angers. 🥇Adam Siao Him Fa looks back on his winning weekend and the home crowd that cheered him all the way to gold. 🇫🇷Watch Adam’s full interview 👉 https://t.co/J303qd44WE #FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/IDfKPuYXc3
