ANGERS, France (AP) — The figure skating Grand Prix season kicked off with a surprise at the Grand Prix de France on Friday, as Ami Nakai took the lead in the women’s short program ahead of three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto.

Making her Grand Prix debut, former world junior bronze medalist Nakai landed the competition’s only triple axel jump right at the start of her program, helping her earn a score of 78.00 points. Fellow Japanese skater Sakamoto managed 76.20 points, placing her second.

Meanwhile, 2024 world silver medalist Isabeau Levito of the United States secured third place with a score of 73.37, setting the stage for an exciting free skate on Saturday.

In the pairs event, the battle for Grand Prix gold is shaping up between two sets of reigning world champions. Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, world champions in both 2023 and 2024, led the short program with a near-flawless performance set to a strings cover of “Paint It Black.” They scored 79.44 points.

Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, the 2024 world champions, delivered an equally strong short program and earned 74.26 points, placing them second.

Two U.S. pairs are also in the mix: Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman scored 63.31, while Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy earned 61.79 points.

The Grand Prix de France is the first of six regular-season Grand Prix events, culminating in a final this December. The series serves as a crucial competitive test for top skaters targeting medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics this February.

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AP Olympics
https://wtop.com/sports/2025/10/nakai-edges-sakamoto-and-levito-at-figure-skating-grand-prix-de-france/