Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won silver in the pairs event at the French Grand Prix of figure skating on Saturday.
The duo finished with a total score of 197.66 after posting 123.40 in the free skate.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, the 2024 world champions, scored 73.26 in Friday’s short program.
Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps finished second in the pairs competition at the Grand de France with a total score of 197.66.
World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won the pairs event by a wide margin of 21 points despite some mistakes by Miura in the first jump combination of their free skate. They scored 219.15 in total.
Hungarians Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko took bronze with 192.76.
Meanwhile, Canadian ice dancers Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac placed sixth in the rhythm dance.
The duo earned a score of 73.75 in the event and the free dance took place on Sunday.
The British Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are the leaders with 84.38 before the second segment of the ice dance competition.
Lithuanians Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius are in second place (80.98) and Frenchmen Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (78.00) are in third place.
Montreal’s Fournier Beaudry teamed with two-time Olympic medalist Cizeron in January. Her previous partner, Nikolaj Sorensen, received a six-year suspension for sexual abuse in October 2024, but an arbitrator overturned the suspension in June.
Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara finished first in the pairs competition at the Grand de France with a total score of 219.15.
Malinin takes the lead
World champion figure skater Ilia Malinin of the United States made a statement by taking a nearly 10-point lead in the short program at his first Grand Prix of the season ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The skater nicknamed the “quadruple god” performed a quadruple flip and quadruple lutz-triple toeloop combination, plus an exclamation point backflip toward the end of his skate at the French Grand Prix on Saturday.
Malinin scored 105.22 points for a commanding lead over Georgia’s Nika Egadze with 95.67 heading into Sunday’s free skate, with Japan’s Kao Miura third with 87.25.
Ilia Malinin of the United States scored 105.22 and leads the men’s short program at the ISU French Grand Prix in Angers, France.
Top French skater Adam Siao Him Fa has won his country’s Grand Prix three years in a row, but that streak looks destined to end after placing fifth in the short program.
American skater Maxim Naumov was applauded by the crowd when he placed ninth. This is his first Grand Prix since his parents, both world skating champions, were killed when their plane crashed into a military helicopter approaching Washington, DC, in January.
The surprise of Nakai’s debut
Ami Nakai produced a major upset by beating three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto to top the Japanese women’s podium.
Japan’s Ami Nakai’s score of 227.08 was enough to capture the French Grand Prix women’s skating title on Saturday in Angers, France.
Competing in his first senior Grand Prix, Nakai put both hands to his mouth in shock at his free skate score of 149.08. a personal best by more than 11 points — and 227.08 in total.
Skating to “What a Wonderful World”, Nakai was the only skater to attempt a triple axle jump, even if she put one hand down to stabilize herself on the landing.
“I never thought I could win, but I won this debut Grand Prix, so I’m elated,” Nakai, previously best known for a bronze at the 2023 world junior championships, said through an interpreter.
Sakamoto was second in 224.23 after rare spin errors and Rion Sumiyoshi took bronze in 216.06, beating Isabeau Levito of the United States in the free skate.
The French Grand Prix is the first of six regular season Grand Prix events that will culminate in a final in December. The series is a key competitive test for high-level skaters aiming for medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
For complete details on the French Grand Prix broadcast, check out the CBC Sports broadcast schedule.
