Adam Siao Him Fa roars back to claim third consecutive Grand Prix de France men's title
The double European champion's epic free skate saw him rise from eighth to first in a history-making comeback. Fellow French skaters Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud claimed the win in ice dance while German pair Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin remain undefeated in Grand Prix appearances.
Figure Skating
The 'Dune: Part Two' soundtrack rang out over and over at Angers Icepark over the two competition days of the Grand Prix de France as multiple figure skaters presented their new programs set to the blockbuster's music.
Home favourite Adam Siao Him Fa made sure his free skate version will be the one most remembered in Angers as he completed a hat-trick of Grand Prix de France titles on Saturday (2 November) and became the first skater in any discipline to come from eighth place to first at a Grand Prix series event.
Despite lying eighth after the short program and trailing overnight leader Jin Boyang by more than 13 points, the two-time reigning European champion came through to win thanks to an epic free skate packed with jumps and boasting an outstanding musical interpretation that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Skating in the first group, the Frenchman landed two quad jumps and, apart from doubling what should have been a quad toeloop, his technical elements were largely clean even with a lack of recent competition experience. The 23-year-old tore the ligaments in his right ankle during the off-season and had only five weeks to prepare for his Grand Prix start.
Following the skate, a relieved Siao Him Fa dropped to the ice on his back as the spectators gave him a loud cheer.
"I just let go. For the short program, I think I put too much pressure on myself," he said. "After the short program I just took this competition as a practice and I took off all this pressure that I had on myself, so I felt way better."
His free skate effort earned him a score of 171.68. The world bronze medallist then had to wait for an hour as his rivals failed to get near his total of 246.58.
Jin was the last man who could deny Siao Him Fa, but a heavy fall on his opening quad Lutz set the tone. The crowd got behind him as he skated to Boston's 'More Than A Feeling', but the two-time world medallist from People's Republic of China - accompanied by coach Brian Orser in the kiss and cry - could only manage 11th in the free skate to finish eighth overall.
Following the action on the television screen outside the rink area and seeing his name remain in first position after Jin's skate, Siao Him Fa breathed out with relief as his coach Cedric Tour and choreographer Benoit Richaud rushed to congratulate him.
While Siao Him Fa's program was the highest-scoring of the night by 12.77 points, the skater said he can definitely score more as his ankle continues to heal and he becomes fit to attempt more jumps.
"I know that I have a lot of things to work on. I can improve on this program," said the Frenchman. "We put off some jumps at the beginning of this season. At first we planned to do four quads but I wasn't ready yet, but it's OK, I'm fine with that and after today I know that I can go a bit further, I can do better so I will just keep working on it."
"I want to bring the best version of the 'Dune' program," he then added with a smile. "It's kind of a competition in a competition."
Behind Siao Him Fa, just two and a half points separated the next four athletes with Shimada Koshiro second on 233.84. It was the first Grand Prix podium for the Japenese skater who jumped from his fifth place in the short program.
"I trusted myself. For the short program and the free skating, I was saying, 'Today is my day, today is my day', so that's was my word before I go and then it happened," a delighted Shimada said. "I've never had that beautiful experience."
The Japanese was just two-tenths ahead of the USA's Andrew Torgashev who moved up from fourth to third with his 'Scheherazade' program. It was a second career Grand Prix call-up for the skater and the only one this season. If another call comes, however, he said he will gladly pack his bags
"I believe I'm first or second alternate, so if anything opens up, I'll be ready to go. Anytime, any place, just let me know. I'll go," Torgashev revealed with a laugh.
Italy's Nikolaj Memola had the second highest-scoring free skate of the evening. Coming back after facing a number of setbacks since June, including a broken ankle, torn abdominal muscle and a bite by an exotic insect while on a trip to People's Republic of China, Memola scored 158.91 to rise from 10th to sixth place.
"I did my job today. Yesterday I didn't do my job," Memola said. "I started training and then something happens and I have to stop. My confidence is lacking a lot right now because every time you get back on the ice, you're like, 'I have 100 problems and I have to deal with them' and I have to get back."
Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov became the first skater in history to land a triple Axel-quad toeloop combination in competition as he finished fourth having been sixth overnight.
Ice dance: Lopareva/Brissaud clinch first Grand Prix title as everything goes wrong for Guignard/Fabbri
French ice dance partners Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud and Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri were equally at a loss for words after their free skates at the Grand Prix de France, but for starkly different reasons.
Lopareva and Brissaud were midway through a critical dissection of their performance when they learned that it was one that earned them their career's first Grand Prix victory. Combined with their third-place finish at Skate Canada last weekend, the points might be enough to see the French pair through to their first-ever Grand Prix Final, which takes place on home ice in Grenoble in December.
"I'm speechless. Honestly it was a little bit of a surprise for us today to achieve," Lopareva said after the skate that put them in the lead with a total 195.27 points. "I'm just feeling shocked actually right now."
Guignard and Fabbri were also speechless after what Fabbri called "the worst performance in our 15-year career". The Italians lost their 4.45-point lead as they struggled from the first combo lift and made mistakes in almost all the following elements.
"Nothing worked tonight," Fabbri said. "After the combo I started almost panicking because I knew that very delicate elements were coming just after that and I was already feeling like - not even after two minutes, after one minute - my legs were a little bit stiff and I knew that I still had to do almost the entire program so I started panicking a little bit. And even if we're experienced skaters, today, to be honest, I really couldn't handle the situation. It was mistakes after mistakes. It was just a fight til the end."
Guignard and Fabbri scored 106.88 for their free skate, finishing in second place overall.
Fourth after the rhythm dance, Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville bumped their total up to 185.88 points to reach their first podium at a Grand Prix event. The USA pair were ninth at Skate Canada the previous week.
Pairs: Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin make it five out of five
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin remained undefeated in their Grand Prix appearances after claiming their fifth consecutive win in the series. The German pair, who started to compete together last season, got top marks in both of their assignments in 2023, followed that up with a victory at the Grand Prix Final and took a confident win in Angers as well, leading both the short and free programs.
They put 211.69 points on the scoreboard on Saturday to start this season's journey with a win in France.
While the result looked reminiscent of their earlier victories, the duo said they made significant advances since making their winning Grand Prix debut in November 2023.
"We grow a lot since last season," Hase said. "Last season when we started with the first Grand Prix, there were a lot of mistakes. We were a lot more nervous and now we started more consistent in elements and showing the programs. I think we also grew together as a team much better. We know now how to work with each other and to work together so it's a lot easier to go together on the ice."
"This year we know more how we need to prepare for competitions because we have experience from last year," Volodin agreed. "Now it's much more better than the first Grand Prix last year and hopefully we skate better and better."
Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii held on to their second place as they boosted their total to 203.39 spots with a deeply personal program set to Barbra Streisand's "Papa Can You Hear Me?".
"This music, we chose it because it's a prayer, so it's a prayer to our angels that we have, especially to her father and to my grandfather," Macii said. "They passed away just before we started to claim some good results, so it's a thought to them, so that's why we chose this music and we're pretty happy about our choice. We really feel it."
Fellow Italian duo Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini moved up from sixth place in the short program to finish third with 176.62.