Loena Hendrickx surprises Anna Shcherbakova to lead Gran Premio d'Italia short program

Loena Hendrickx could hardly have asked for a better way to celebrate her 22nd birthday as she soared into the lead at the figure skating Gran Premio d'Italia in Turin on Friday.

The Belgian put together a personal best short program to leapfrog the early leaders Maiia Khromykh of Russia, who finished second, and Mihara Mai of Japan, who finished fifth – then watched on as favourite and reigning world champion Anna Shcherbakova committed an uncharacteristic error on her final jump combination.

Hendrickx got the crowd involved with her routine, set to Caruso by Lucio Dalla, and landed clean jumps – a triple Lutz-triple toe combination; double Axel; and triple flip.

Her brother and coach Jorik, a two-time Olympian, gave her a deserved big hug as she came off the ice, knowing that she had performed one of the best routines of the afternoon – and so it proved when the scores came in.

She received 73.52 points, improving on her previous personal best mark set at last year's Budapest Trophy Challenger Series by over a point.

"It felt like a little more pressure than normally because I wanted to skate clean so that I could enjoy my birthday." an elated Hendrickx said at the post-skate press conference.

"I'm really surprised [by the result]. I really look up to these two [Khromykh and Shcherbakova]. I couldn't be happier."

In the ice dance rhythm dance, four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron skated safely into the lead.

Khromykh outdoes Shcherbakova

Earlier in the first group, Khromykh received the highest score for her performance, a lead she held until Hendrickx surpassed her.

The Eteri Tutberidze-trained 15-year-old put in a program that looked effortless featuring a double Axel, triple Lutz, and triple flip - triple toe combination, scoring a new international personal best score of 72.04.

However, the teenager appeared disappointed by the score.

She later clarified: "I'm very happy that I was able to skate clean today. I have mixed feelings right now; I'm not sure how to feel about it."

Shcherbakova finished only third after the error, which saw her put her free foot down on the triple Lutz, the first element in her jump combination, then only get a double toe off for the second instead of her planned triple.

She still received the top program component score of all skaters, enough for an overall of 71.73 to keep her in the top three.

"I'm not satisfied with my performance today," Shcherbakova admitted.

"It was not a technical problem, it was a problem in my head. In the warm-up I felt fine. Today I was thinking too much. Eteri told me I was thinking too much. I was trying to think about how I could do it better."

Miyahara, Mihara skate strong for Japan

Japan's Mihara looked at ease with her choice of music to accompany her program, I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.

A well-choreographed routine without any glaring errors saw the 22-year-old come within half a point of her own short program personal best.

She knew she had put together a strong program as the music ended, and was full of emotion as she shared a hug with her coach coming off the ice and again reacting with joy in the kiss-and-cry to her score of 70.46 points.

Mihara's compatriot Miyahara Satoko pipped her to fourth by a fraction of a point with an elegant skate of her own, although an under-rotated triple toe cost her more points.

Korea's Lim Eun-soo and Kim Ye-lim, meanwhile, were both hampered by falls, finishing in sixth and seventh, respectively.

Ice dance: Papadakis/ Cizeron dazzle on Grand Prix return

In the rhythm dance, France's Papadakis and Cizeron marked their return to ISU Grand Prix competition looking like they had never been away.

The French duo, who were taking part in their first Grand Prix since the Grand Prix Final in December 2019 in this very arena in northern Italy, enthralled a supportive crowd with a season's best 87.45 points.

Wearing matching maroon-coloured outfits, Papadakis and Cizeron barely put a blade wrong, only losing levels on Papadakis' execution of the pattern dance type step sequence as well as their Midline step sequence.

Papadakis explained that the team had decided to tweak the routine since their prior outing this season at the Finlandia Trophy Challenger Series. "We changed the second music of our program and we changed a bit of our choreography," she said.

"And it was pretty good form and it was very clean. It was a good improvement for us. We had a very good time."

However, they still finished clear of training mates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States, who scored 84.79 points to improve on their score from Skate America.

Donohue, who had an issue on his twizzles at Skate America, came through them unscathed this time, with both skaters receiving the maximum levels.

In the kiss-and-cry, Hubbell and Donohue looked reasonably satisfied with their score, which placed them ahead of Russia's Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin (81.47) in third.

"We wanted to build on what we did at Skate America," Hubbell said. "We edged out our score from [there]. We’re excited to show in the free dance what we’ve been working on."

For her part, Stepanova put their lower score down to season-opening nerves.

"This is our first completion of the season. We were lacking a bit in confidence, but we tried our best. We want to pull ourselves together for the free dance."