American figure skating phenomenon, Ilia Malinin, continued his undefeated streak by setting the top mark in the men’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix de France in Angers, France. Malinin completed a nearly perfect routine, with an uncharacteristic wobble on the combination jump, leaving him with 105.22 points. The routine, titled "The Lost Crown," tells the story of a warrior coming into his own, and Malinin seemed aware he had to fight to skate a clean program, with a slight shake of his head as he took his bows. He heads into the free skate as the favorite for gold.

In second place was Georgia's Nika Egadze, who skated a clean program, earning him level 3 and 4 across the board. His high jumps, and power across the ice indicated Egadze is ready to be considered among the top tier of men’s figure skaters.

Japan’s Kao Miura, 2023 Four Continents champion, started the Grand Prix season with an elegant short program that showed signs of early season inconsistency, and included a few costly mistakes. One of the favorites for a Japanese berth at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, Miura heads into the free skate in third place.

A favorite on home ice in France was 2024 bronze medalist Adam Siao Him Fa, who skated an exuberant and fast-paced short program titled "Leonardo da Vinci,” showcased his signature commitment to choreography and performance. However, a hand down on his quad lutz was counted by judges as a fall, and with an unclean exit of his toe loop jump, Siao Him Fa found himself in 5th place.

American 4th-place finisher at the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Max Naumov, began his event with a strong showing in France, with an emotional short program to Chopin’s ‘Nocturne No. 20,’ landing him in 9th place. 

Teammate Andrew Torgashev, the 2025 U.S. national silver medalist, had an unfortunate fall in the required step sequence, placing him in last place after the short program.

Shortly after the conclusion of the men’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix France, the pairs free program took place, with Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara posting an impressive early-season total score of 219.15 for the gold medal. Behind them with 192.76 was Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, who made several errors including singling a planned triple twist and barely hanging on to the side-by-side combination jump pass. Overall, the 2024 world champions were able to push through, and will be looking to their next Grand Prix in Canada to improve their performance. 

Finishing the event in third place, Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko from Hungary, who were 4th at the 2024 World Championships, completed a clean, crowd-pleasing free skate to ‘Without You,’ by Ursine Vulpine.