The figure skating season is never more back than when the ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix kicks off its annual run, and here we are! With the 2026 Winter Olympics now done and dusted, the beginning of a new Olympic cycle promises plenty of excitement, fresh faces and longtime favourites looking to cement their places at the top of a reshuffled pack. If the Grand Prix de France is anything to go by, we’re in for quite the season.

Men’s

Is figure skating really back if the men aren’t menning? Hometown hero Adam Siao Him Fa certainly seemed determined to prove that he’s going nowhere as he took gold with two spectacular performances that earned him a combined total of 284.24 points. The Frenchman led from the short program and never let up, delivering another confident free skate to secure a thoroughly deserved victory in front of his home crowd.

It wasn’t quite so straightforward for silver medallist Kao Miura (247.96), who found himself languishing in ninth after several costly errors in the short program, before staging a comeback in the free skate to make it to second overall.

A particularly bright spot for Korean figure skating was Minkyu Seo (244.90), who made a unforgettable senior Grand Prix debut. A wonderful short program saw him finish third heading into the free skate, a position he successfully maintained to claim bronze. The young skater’s star is certainly bright, and we look forward to seeing whether he can maintain this consistency throughout the season.

Special mention must also go to Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko (229.98), who delivered an absolutely wonderful short program. The skater has gone from strength to strength in recent years via well-executed crowd-pleasing routines, and he found himself sitting in second heading into the free skate. Although a more challenging free saw him slip off the podium to fourth overall, he’s one to keep on the docket this season.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the meet came via Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, the reigning Olympic champion, whose painful short program left him in fourth before an equally difficult free skate saw him tumble further down the standings to tenth overall. However, Shaidorov has always been able to grown stronger through his setbacks, and we have little doubt that the Olympic champion will be back fighting another day.

Women’s

One of the biggest talking points of the Grand Prix de France was undoubtedly Japan’s Ami Nakai, the young skater who burst onto the senior Grand Prix scene last season and returned to France looking to defend her title.

Errors in her short program saw Nakai finish third behind compatriot Yuna Aoki, who delivered a stunning performance to take the early lead. However, a truly spectacular free skate from Nakai, including a successful triple Axel, saw her soar into first place with a combined total of 219.74 points, securing another Grand Prix de France title.

Georgia’s ever-consistent Anastasiia Gubanova (202.82) also delivered two solid performances, displaying her trademark elegance and composure to claim silver. However, she was pushed down to the wire by Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann (202.37), who finished closely behind in third. As one of the most artistically interesting skaters in the entire women’s field, Gutmann unfortunately found herself in fifth following the short program, but delivered a redemptive free skate to finish second in that segment, pushing her up onto the podium.

We must return to Yuna Aoki, whose short program was one of the highlights of the competition. Although errors in her free skate ultimately cost her the lead and saw her finish fourth overall, there is plenty of promise in the Japanese skater’s routines. Hopefully she can build upon this momentum and make it onto the podium sometime later this season.

Pairs

Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava continued their dominance with two impressive performances, finishing with a combined total of 204.65 points. Following a fantastic outing at the Olympics, and with several established pairs out of the picture, it will be fascinating to see whether the Georgian duo can truly stake their claim at the very top of the discipline this season.

However, Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii, the Russian pair competing under a neutral flag, also made a bold outing, maintaining their second-place position from the short program through to the free skate for a combined total of 197.66 points. Their free skate in particular was one to watch, and with international audiences having seen relatively little of the duo over the previous Olympic cycle.

In third were Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel (179.74), who, like the two pairs above them, maintained their position from the short program to the final standings. The German duo seemed to be among the happiest athletes in the competition, bringing a delightful energy to both routines that made them compelling to watch. They are also among those who could benefit most from the reshuffling of the field following the Olympics, and it will be interesting to see how they continue to grow from strength to strength with an increasingly bright spotlight upon them.

Ice Dance

Of course, much of the conversation in ice dance centred upon France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, who where the talk of the town on home ice. Finishing first in both the rhythm dance and free dance, the reigning Olympic champions delighted the home crowd with two performances that earned them a combined total of 207.57 points. With several of their biggest rivals, including Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA), and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN), no longer competing in the field, this was a strong start to what most expect to be a dominant quad for the French pair.

In second were Georgia’s Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (193.93), who debuted two absolutely gorgeous routines, maintaining their second-place position from the rhythm dance through to the free dance. Their artistry has clearly developed since the previous season, and it will be exciting to see just how much further they can push themselves throughout the coming months.

Likewise, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko also seem to have truly come into their own, delivering another two beautiful routines full of dreamy artistry. Having often found themselves in the shadow of Chock and Bates, this could be one of the seasons in which they, alongside fellow Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, truly establish themselves as leading forces in US ice dance. Carreira and Ponomarenko finished third in the rhythm dance and maintained that position through the free dance, earning a combined total of 189.36 points.

Special mention must also go to Spain’s Sofía Val and Asaf Kazimov, alongside Australia’s Holly Harris and Jason Chan, both of whom delivered delightful routines. While Harris and Chan experienced some difficulties that affected their overall standing, finishing eighth, Val and Kazimov secured an impressive fourth-place finish.

Two further beneficiaries of the reshuffling of the ice dance field were the American teams of Leah Neset and Artem Markelov, and Eva Pate and Logan Bye, who also delivered solid performances to finish fifth and sixth respectively. US Ice Dance aren’t in trouble in the slightest.

Up Next

Overall, the Grand Prix de France was a notable start to the 2026–27 Grand Prix season, with fan favourites such as Ami Nakai and Adam Siao Him Fa giving fans a teaser of just how exciting this post-Olympic season could be.

Between the emergence of some truly promising juniors making their senior debuts, the return of the big guns and the reshuffling of several disciplines following the Olympics, there is plenty to be excited about this season.

Join us next week as we head on over to Canada!