Japan’s Nakai wins Grand Prix de France

Japanese teenager Ami Nakai produced a sparkling performance in Saturday’s free skate to successfully defend her title at the Grand Prix de France, after Olympic champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won the ice dance.

The 18-year-old Nakai, who took bronze at the Milan-Cortina Olympics earlier this year, scored 149.08 points for a brilliant routine, the exact same score she was awarded when she won in Angers last year.

She was only third in the short program, but she leapfrogged Anastasiia Gubanova and Yuna Aoki to finish on a total of 219.74 points.

Japan’s Ami Nakai performs during the women’s free skate during the Grand Prix de France at Angers IceParc in France on Saturday.

Photo: Reuters

Russian-born Georgian Gubanova, a former European champion, took silver, almost 17 points adrift.

Nakai’s compatriot Aoki struggled in her free skate having led following the short program, missing out on the podium entirely to Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann.

Nakai landed a triple Axel as she delighted the crowd with her performance to music from An American in Paris, which features work from George Gershwin.

Gubanova clinched a first podium on her third appearance at the event.

Gutmann was awarded a personal-best 137.01 points for her free skate, catapulting her into third.

Already in the lead on Friday following the rhythm dance, a dark, moody flamenco set to the music of Rosalia, Cizeron and Fournier scored a total of 207.57 points after the free dance.

While their rhythm dance was marked by a minor technical hiccup, their free dance performance on Saturday was, according to their coach Romain Haguenauer, “crystal clear and flawless.”

They finished ahead of Georgia’s Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (193.93 points) and Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (189.36).

Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry returned to the ice in western France for the first stop on the prestigious Grand Prix circuit.

They debuted their two new program seven months after winning gold at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

In their first season together, they had also secured the European and the world championship titles.

“The first outings are always important for us as coaches because we get to see the audience’s reaction, the little moments of emotion or excitement,” Haguenauer said.

Their next event would be in Helsinki for the Grand Prix of Finland from November 20 to 22.

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa took the men’s lead with a playful, jazzy short program.

Heading into today’s free skate final, he holds a clear lead over Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko (85.49 points) and South Korea’s Seo Min-kyu (83.83).

“Above all, I really enjoyed myself, that was the main thing for me,” the French skater said.