Isabeau Levito is in 3rd place after the women’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix de France, behind Japan’s Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto.

Levito, silver medalist at the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, skated a clean program, earning her 73.37 points and a strong program component score after a foot injury took her out for much of the 2024-25 season. 

Nakai, 17, delivered one of the strongest performances of her career, landing a clean triple Axel, making her one of a select few who can land one of the most difficult jumps in women’s figure skating. Her performance makes a strong argument for one of Japan’s three spots at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics in February.

Just behind her is three-time world champion Sakamoto, who delivered an expert program to "Time to say goodbye" performed by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. She garnered the highest program component scores of the short program and still heads into the free skate as the favorite for gold.

Japanese teammate Rion Sumiyoshi (71.03), four-time ISU Grand Prix bronze medalist, came in 4th after the short program. France’s Lorine Schild submitted a solid program to come in 5th, while Chae-Yeon Kim, the Korean 2024 bronze medalist, struggled after a fall during her triple flip. 

U.S. 2024 Nebelhorn Trophy champion, Elyce Lin-Gracey, concluded the short program in 7th. 

In the pairs event, Americans Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman, and Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy put out solid showings early in the season, coming in 4th and 5th place, respectively. 

Two-time world champions, Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, skated a near-flawless short program to finish in first place just ahead of 2024 world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps from Canada. Both teams received the highest possible levels for their elements, setting the stage for an exciting rivalry as the Olympic season gets underway. 

The women’s and pairs events continue on Saturday at 8:40 a.m. (ET) on Peacock.