Grand Prix de France 2024: Amber Glenn, Adam Siao Him Fa aim to kickstart road to Finals - Preview, schedule, how to watch
After two stops in North America, the ISU Grand Prix series travels to Europe for the Grand Prix de France International with world medallists set to feature in each of the four disciplines.
Figure Skating
Ilia Malinin was the star of the first two stops at the ISU Grand Prix series 2024, sweeping gold and securing himself a spot in the Finals. Now that the USA figure skater is out of Grand Prix action until December, the door is open for others to challenge his top scores as the circuit moves to Europe for the Grand Prix de France.
Adam Siao Him Fa is hoping to do just that as he returns to the rink where he won his home Grand Prix last year by edging Malinin into second spot. The two-time European champion recorded his personal best score in the short program and best total score in Angers in 2023 and could be motivated to boost his skates even more after watching the dominant performance Malinin put on at Skate America and Skate Canada.
Many other top names will also start their Grand Prix season in France, including US women's singles champion Amber Glenn and European medallist Nina Pinzarrone, while Skate America winner Higuchi Wakaba of Japan will aim to repeat Malinin's double.
Reigning European champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy headline the ice dance event while last season's Grand Prix Final pairs winners Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany will be aiming to collect the points they need to defend that crown at December's Finals in Grenoble, France.
The Grand Prix de France takes place in Angers from 1-3 November. Find out the stars to watch and full schedule in our preview.
2024 Grand Prix de France: Stars to watch
World bronze medallist Siao Him Fa is a top contender in the men's singles at the Grand Prix de France as he leads a stellar European line-up, including Estonia's Aleksandr Selevko who came second to the French figure skater at the 2024 European championships.
World No.5 Lukas Britschgi could also pose a challenge. The Swiss athlete spent the last two weeks honing the programs that earned him a second-place finish at the 2024 Budapest Trophy and is eager to improve on his scores in Angers.
While Angers is the first Grand Prix stop for Siao Him Fa, Selevko, and Britschgi, it will be the last regular stop for Shimada Koshiro who is looking to upgrade his sixth place finish at Skate America and stand out among the dazzling men's skaters on Team Japan.
The spotlight will shine even brighter on the Japanese female skaters who will try to extend their country's dominant reign in the women's singles event. Higuchi Wakaba won Skate America while Sakamoto Kaori led an all-Japanese podium at Skate Canada. Higuchi will be on the ice again in Angers with the aim to clinch her spot in the Finals while teammates Mihara Mai and Sumiyoshi Rion are set to make their first Grand Prix appearances this season.
USA champion Amber Glenn will try to break up this Japanese party as she did at the 2024 Lombardia Trophy in September by beating Sakamoto for the singles title. A runner-up in Bergamo, Glenn's teammate Sarah Everhardt will also be at the Grand Prix de France after getting a last-minute call up to replace Belgium's Loena Hendrickx.
While European champion Hendrickx decided to miss the third Grand Prix stop to devote more time to training, her teammate Nina Pinzarrone will still give Belgium a good chance to be represented in the Top 3. Pinzarrone finished second in Angers last season and was just one spot off the podium at Skate America.
World bronze medallist Kim Chaeyeon of the Republic of Korea, who has not finished off the podium for almost a year, is also not one to miss.
All pairs who were on the podium at last year's Grand Prix de France are back for another tussle at the title. Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud are aiming to fend off Italians Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii yet again, while France's Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev will count on home support to upgrade from their bronze medal finish.
The winners of last year's Grand Prix Final, Hase and Volodin, will also be on the ice to begin their Grand Prix season.
Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev come to Angers on the heels of a history-making performance at Skate Canada where they became the first pair from Uzbekistan to win a Grand Prix medal. They finished second in Halifax, behind world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps.
Meanwhile, world bronze medallists in ice dance Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri are aiming for another golden showing in Angers to follow on last year's success.
It will be the first Grand Prix stop for the Italians. Half of the other pairs have already competed at the North American stops, which could give them an advantage in terms of dealing with pre-competition nerves.
This includes French ice dancers Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud who blasted into third spot at Skate Canada and are hoping to use this momentum at the home Grand Prix. They finished third in Angers last season.
2024 Grand Prix de France: Competition dates and schedule
The 2024 edition of the ISU Grand Prix series event takes place in Angers, France from 1-3 November.
Here is the full schedule of the events. All times local Central European Time / CET (UTC +1 hour).
Friday, 1 November
- Women's short: 14:00-15:29
- Ice dance rhythm: 16:00-17:18
- Men's short: 17:45-19:14
- Pairs short: 19:45-20:50
Saturday, 2 November
- Women's free: 13:30-15:17
- Men's free: 15:40-17:27
- Ice dance free: 17:50-19:21
- Pairs free: 19:40-20:57
Sunday, 3 November
- Exhibition gala: 14:30-17:00
2024 Grand Prix de France: How to watch
French fans will be able to watch the action from the home Grand Prix on France TV. Here is a list of broadcasters in other key territories:
- Australia - SBS
- Brazil - ESPN
- Canada - CBC
- People’s Republic of China - CCTV
- Finland - YLE
- Germany - ARD; ZDF
- Great Britain - Eurosport
- Italy - Rai
- Japan - Fuji
- Mexico - Sky Mexico
- USA - NBC's streaming service Peacock
For full tune-in information, see the ISU’s “Where to Watch” page.
ISU also provides live streaming on its YouTube account, although many territories are geo-blocked.