From the 4th to the 7th of December, the exciting final of the 2025–26 Grand Prix series lit up the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan. The world’s top figure skaters – six per discipline, as qualified across the series – assembled for a crucial Grand Prix Final ahead of the Olympics in Milan later this year.

Amidst an electric atmosphere, a home-crowd hoping for Japanese success, and unexpected twists, this was another unforgettable final.

Men’s

What’s a final without a world record being broken? As we’ve become accustomed to over the past few years Ilia Malinin continues to make history, though his path to cold wasn’t easy. A shaky short program left him in third place going into the free skate, but in the free skate, Malinin landed seven quadruple jumps, a feat no other skater has yet matched in competition. His comeback left him with a combined his total of 332.29 and the gold medal.

Finishing behind him were Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato, who took silver and bronze respectively. Kagiyama delighted his home crowd when he went into first after the short program with 108.77 points, and although he couldn’t match Malinin’s seven-quad assault, Kagiyama held on to win silver (302.41).

Close behind was Sato, who opened with 98.06 in the short, following up his strong performance with a clean  free skate to claim bronze (292.08), cementing his status as a dark horse going into the latter half of this Olympic season.

Daniel Grassl (Italy) could be proud of his time at the GPF with two great skates, whilst Adam Siao Him Fa (France) and Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan) presented two shaky skates apiece. Both have the ability to pull off truly impressive performances to vy for the podium, and hopefully we’ll see them grow in confidence and consistency as the season continues.

Women’s

America’s Alyssa Liu’s composure delivered gold (222.49) with two clean skates as several other women faltered in crucial moments. The reigning world champion bounced back after the short program which saw home favourite Mone Chiba top the short with a signature confident performance.

Behind her, Japan’s Ami Nakai claimed silver (220.89), underlining a fantastic first senior season for the skater. She sat third after the short program, and she shone under pressure to deliver a solid skate that earned her her first ever senior Grand Prix Final podium. Veteran Kaori Sakamoto took bronze (218.80) after a rocky short program that saw her going into the free in fifth. Despite this, she was triumphant in the free, enabling her to snare a Grand Prix podium.

Chiba, by comparison, struggled in the first half of her free skate, sending her down to fifth after leading post-short, whilst Amber Glenn (USA), faltered in her short program, putting her in sixth place going into the free. It was an upward climb that was just too much for one of America’s best, but surely we’ll see more fantastic performances from her in the latter half of the season.

The field was completed by Japan’s Rinka Watanabe, who was also fighting to prove that she deserves a coveted spot in the Olympics. The Japanese women’s field is deep, but her fourth place finish shows that her fight still isn’t quite over yet.

Pairs

Reigning world champions Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara delighted the Japanese crowd by capturing gold in front of a home audience. Despite a minor slip by Kihara during their free skate, they delivered a strong overall performance for a total of 225.21 points.

Second place went to Italy’s Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii, delivering truly fantastic skates that prove they are undoubtedly in the conversation for the Olympic podium. They finished with a total of 223.28 and a silver medal, a mere 1.93 points behind the Japanese champions.

A twist came via Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase & Nikita Volodin; whilst they were fifth after the short, but their free skate was the highest of the evening and led them to bronze with 221.25 points overall.

Also competing were Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava (Georgia), Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko (Hungary) and Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps (Canada). One of the biggest surprises of the final came via the Canadian pair, who struggled in both the short and the free skate. They left Nagoya with an unexpected 6th place finish.

Ice Dance

U.S. champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates continued their dominance in the GPF, winning gold (220.42) to give them another Grand Prix Final title to add to their already stacked resume. However, their free dance was not the best of the night: France’s Laurence Fournier-Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron did their best to challenge with a lauded free dance, but had to settle for silver (214.25).

Meanwhile, British pair Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson added a historic bronze (208.81) to their resume, to see the pair continuing to blaze the way for a new generation of British ice dancers. Close behind them was Canada’s Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier, whose “Vincent” free dance left them just off the podium by 0.06 points.

Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius (Lithuania) and Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik (USA) rounded out the top six with two utterly delightful performances each. Whilst questions will continue to be raised about ice dance scoring, special props must go to Zingas / Kolesnik, who showed why they are one of the most exciting up-and-coming teams on the circuit right now.

Overall

What’s figure skating without twists and turns along the way (no pun intended)? Across all four disciplines the 2025 Grand Prix Final reminded even the most seasoned of viewers that anything can – and will – happen, no matter how experienced the competitors may be. Joy came from seeing younger skaters such as Ami Nakai, Zingas / Kolesnik and more show how exciting the future of figure skating will be, whilst performances from more weathered stars provide yet another preview into how the Olympics might shake out.

The women’s field has never looked more open while questions still remain as to if Malinin can be beaten by anyone but himself. Either way, for all with Olympic hopes, the pressure is now on to maintain consistency to build crucial momentum for Milan.