Ami Nakai won the women’s singles gold at the Grand Prix de France on Oct. 24 while Adam Siao Him Fa took the gold in men’s singles on Oct. 25.
Outside of popping her opening triple-axel in her short program, Nakai skated a clean weekend, taking third in the short program and first in the free skate to win gold by 16.92 points to Anastasiia Gubanova in second.
Gubanova had a clean short program which ranked second but in her free skate, she landed on the quarter on the second double-axel of her triple-lutz, double-axel, double-axel sequence combo as well as her triple-flip. She also under-rotated her triple-lutz which gave her a total of -3.02 for her grade of execution on those three jumps.
The podium was rounded out by Lara Naki Gutmann who finished fifth in the short and second in the free. In the short, she fell on her triple-lutz, giving her a -2.36 GOE but otherwise skated clean. Her free skate on the other hand only had one minor mistake — a quarter landing on the first double-axel of her triple-lutz, double-axel, double-axel sequence combo.
Finishing just outside the podium was Yuna Aoki, who finished first in the short program after a relatively clean program. However, her free skate is what dropped her as she fell on her triple-flip, double toe combo, which gave her a -2.65 GOE. Aoki also opted to do two double-lutzes which left her blow the eight-ball, since everyone ahead of her except Gutmann, who did five triples and one double, executed only triples.
Sarah Everhardt, the lone American woman at this grand prix, finished ninth in the short due to falling on her opening triple-lutz. The fall took 2.95 points off her technical score. She rebounded to sixth in the free but still made mistakes. She under-rotated her triple-lutz, triple-toe combo and fell on her triple-flip for a -2.18 GEO on those jumps. It’s not over yet though as this was Everhardt’s first competition of the season and she is set to compete at the NHK Trophy in late November.
For the men, Fa won gold after a perfect short and free which never saw him below first place. His total score of 282.24 is also the best he has had since the 2024 World Championships when he finished in third with a 284.39.
Following Fa was Kao Miura, who went from ninth after the short to second overall after a monstrous 175.29 point free that saw him receive his highest free skate score since 2024 at Skate America when he received 179.13 points.
Rounding out the podium was Minkyu Seo, who was steady in his second ever senior competition and finished third in both the short and free. This was also his first senior international podium of his career.
Just off the podium was Aleksandr Selevko, who had a terrific short program. His free skate was a little lackluster as he quarter landed on his quad-lutz and double-axel, triple-toe combo. His final double-axel was also ruled invalid due to him already executing two of them earlier in the program.
Americans Jimmy Ma and Jacob Sanchez also participated in the Grand Prix de France.
Ma was the higher-placed of the two, finishing sixth overall after a seventh-place short and sixth-place free skate. Ma’s short program was clean but he did receive a -1.36 GOE which dropped his quad-toe to 8.14 points instead of 9.5 points.
His free skate had some mistakes as he under-rotated his triple-axel and quarter landed on his triple-axel, euler, double-salchow, double-axel sequence combo. He was also docked 1.21 points on his triple-flip for an unclear edge but still finished with a technical score of 71.9 points, which was good for fourth out of the 12 skaters.
Sanchez finished fifth in the short and ninth in the free for an eighth-place overall finish. Sanchez’s only blemish in the short was stepping off of his triple-lutz combo which cost him 2.95 points. In the free, Sanchez fell on his quad-salchow and quarter landed his triple-flip, triple-toe combo. He performed a single-lutz instead of a triple-lutz, which left him with a minimum of 12.42 points on the ice.
This weekend is the Grand Prix Skate Canada International which takes place between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1. Fans can watch the men’s and women’s singles, pairs and ice dance events on Peacock.