The pairs competition at the Grand Prix de France featured a tight battle for the gold medal between two sets of world champions. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara from Japan, reigning world champions from 2023 and this year, took the lead in the short program, skating to a rendition of “Paint It Black” on strings, scoring 79.44. They narrowly surpassed Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, who earned a score of 74.26 and are former world champions from 2024.
Hungary’s Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko secured the third spot with a score of 70.15, followed by two American pairs: Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman with 63.31 points, and Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy with 61.79 points.
In the women’s event, the competition took an unexpected turn as Ami Nakai of Japan outperformed three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto in the short program. Nakai, a former world junior bronze medalist, impressed with the only triple axel of the competition, earning a score of 78 points on her Grand Prix debut.
Sakamoto scored 76.20 points, while Isabeau Levito of the United States, the 2024 world silver medalist, secured the third position with 73.37 points. The competition will continue with the ice dance rhythm dance on Saturday at 7 a.m. ET.
The Grand Prix de France marks the start of the six regular season Grand Prix events leading up to a final in December. This series serves as a crucial test for elite skaters aiming for success at the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
For comprehensive streaming information on the Grand Prix of France, viewers can refer to the CBC Sports broadcast schedule.
