2025 Grand Prix de France Men’s Podium (from L to R): Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), Ilia Malinin (USA), and Nika Egadze (GEO).
Grand Prix de France: Men
USA’s Ilia Malinin dominated the Men’s event in Angers, France, taking his sixth individual Grand Prix gold medal on Sunday. Adam Siao Him Fa of France shot up from fifth place to win the silver, while Georgia’s Nika Egadze earned the bronze.
Ilia Malinin
The two time and current World champion enthralled the crowd in the short program, reeling off a solid quad flip and triple Axel. The only glitch was a foot down on the back end of a quad Lutz-triple toe in his routine to “Dies Irae” and “The Lost Crown” from Prince of Persia. Two spins were graded a level four, and he posted 105.22 points for first place.
“I’m very happy to be here. It was fun out there today,” said the 20-year-old. “I had some slight injuries, which I don’t want to go into specifics, and mentally I’m not really there yet, so it was a really tough decision for me to evaluate whether I would actually do the Grand Prix season. So, it’s great for me to be here.”
The skater explained that the concept of his program is a “warrior’s path, going and fighting through a lot of obstacles along the way.”
“It really does feel personal for me,” said Malinin. “I’m very happy I got the costume; I’m very happy about how it looks and how it feels, and I hope to get the same reaction from the crowd.”
The two-time reigning Grand Prix Final champion put out technically difficult free skate which featured five quads. The opening quad flip received very high grades of execution (GOE) and was followed by a solid triple Axel. He followed up with a quad Lutz, triple loop and quad Lutz-Euler-triple flip. The Lutz in this jumping pass was determined to be slightly underrotated, but he then landed a solid quad toe-triple toe and quad Salchow-triple Axel sequence. He also displayed strong level-four footwork and placed first with 215.78 points. His total score was 321.00.
“Right now, I feel very confident and happy with how things went,” said Malinin. “I did feel very nervous going out there today. The goal for today was simply to make it to the end in one piece. That’s always the goal for competitions. I’m sure I’ll be adding more technical content as the season progresses.”
The skater explained that the voice-over quote in the beginning of his routine: “Begin when light no longer reaches, the path is yet to be made.”
“This quote really gives you the idea to find your own way in life,” he said. “This is something I’ve always been thinking about, no matter if it’s in skating or in other parts of life. I’m always telling myself to go my own way.”
Malinin shared that Satomi Ito gave him the idea of the design for his new costume.
“I really liked it,” he said. “It really gives you that sense of power and knowledge. That is something that I really feel when I wear this costume. I feel like I know a lot and I’ve been through a lot, so the costume is basically telling my story, about the obstacles in life I’ve gone through.”
Adam Siao Him Fa
The 2024 World bronze medalist placed fifth (84.87) after taking a fall on his quad Lutz in his short program to “La terre vue du ciel” from Leonardo da Vinci. Nevertheless, he produced a triple Axel and quad toe-double toe, and two spins earned a level four.
“The positive takeaway from this competition is that it’s an improvement compared to the beginning of the season,” said the 24-year-old. “Of course, it was not what I expected, but on the other hand, I didn’t expect anything. I did my best, and I had fun.”
“Of course, it’s great to be here with competitors who are also friends,” he added. “It always makes the atmosphere a little bit more relaxing. But during the competition itself, I focus on myself and on bringing what I’ve been doing in training into the competition.”
The two-time European champion rebounded in his ethereal routine to “Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” for a second-place finish in the free skate. He opened with a solid triple Lutz followed by a quad toe and quad toe-triple toe. The only glitch came when he slightly underrotated the back end of a quad Salchow-Euler-triple Salchow. The level four footwork was excellent, earning high GOEs and was graded a level four. He scored a new season’s best of 196.08 and rose to second place overall with a total score of 280.95.
“The main difference today was that I was having fun,” said the 24-year-old. “I didn’t care about results, points, anything. I was just enjoying the moment.”
“Actually, it’s funny—in training, the short program was going better than the free skate, but it turned out the opposite here,” he added. “The relief right now is so big. I’m so thankful to my fans, who gave me so much support, so much love, and so much positive energy.”
Nika Egadze
The 2025 CS Trialeti Trophy champion showed musicality in his introspective short program to “Waltz” by MGZAVREBI, landing a solid quad Salchow-triple toe, quad toe and triple Axel. He also picked up a level four on two spins and finished in second place with a new personal best of 95.67.
“I was actually very nervous today, but thankfully Benoît (Richaud) and Eteri (Tutberidze) were both here, and they really helped me through the day,” he shared. “To be totally honest, doing three competitions in a row was probably the worst decision of my life. I’m so tired. I’m just hoping to get through the free program tomorrow, and after that, I have one day off. But then Skate Canada is already coming the week after.”
“I didn’t realize how much and how demanding it would be to do these three competitions in a row, but I decided to try it,” he added. “I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.”
The 23-year-old has clearly showed improvement this season and said that one of the factors was that he started working with Richaud.
“I liked it very much, it was a great experience for me,” said Egadze. “At first, I came to Italy only planning to do the free program, but I ended up doing both programs with him. I’m so grateful to my federation for giving me the opportunity to work with him. I also started working more closely with Eteri Georgievna. She asks me more about how I feel, and if I have a bad day, we talk about what we can change, and that really helped me a lot.”
Skating to “Sailing”, “Verve” and “Sail,” Egadze hung on to his opening quad toe before stepping out of a quad Salchow. He then slightly underrotate and put his foot down on the back end of a triple Salchow-triple toe, but the triple Axel-double Axel sequence was clean. He received a level four on one spin and the footwork and finished fourth in the free skate with 163.74 points. With a total score of 249.04 points, he was able to stay on the podium for third place overall.
“I am so happy to have finally won the medal!” said Egadze. “Before that I had five Grand Prixes where I finished fourth, so I am really, really glad. Today I was really fighting through. I am glad I kept fighting.”
The skater said that he has one day off before he goes to Canada to continue training for Skate Canada.
“The unusual thing for me this off season was that I went for three weeks to Benoit’s camp,” he said. “It was a great time! It was also really fun to train there with Adam and see how he is training. It’s always great, also here, to share the ice with so many great athletes. It’s really special for me.”
Lukas Britschgi
Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland stood in seventh after the short program with 78.68 points. He had put a hand down after the first jump in a quad toe-double toe combo, and then stepped out of a triple Axel.
The 2025 European champion rebounded in his “Journey through the Orient” free skate, opening with a solid quad toe-triple toe and quad toe. The only mistake came when he popped a loop and later put a hand down on a triple Axel. Two spins and the footwork were graded a level four, and he placed third (170.36) in the free skate, moving up to fourth place overall (249.04).
“The free skate today was a lot better than yesterday,” said the 27-year-old. “I also felt more relaxed. I felt again that I was in the situation where I had nothing to lose, so I could skate more freely. In the short program, I always feel like you have to be perfect, because you can lose a lot of points. The atmosphere again was fantastic here today!”
Britschgi also sported a new costume.
“This year we went a bit more risky and wanted to create something special,” he shared. “So, we went sleeveless. I think I have to do quite a few push-ups to fit into it. I ended up looking a little bit like Aladdin, which wasn’t really the intent. We tried to keep the costume in an oriental style. I’m pretty happy about how the costume turned out.”
Francois Pitot
Francois Pitot of France rose from eighth place to finish fifth (233.98) overall.
“The atmosphere was just amazing,” said the 20-year-old. “I didn’t expect that. It felt like being in a soccer stadium, seeing my face on a big banner! That’s really amazing and helped me a lot and I didn’t expect that.”
Pitot went on to say that his free skate, which featured seven triple jumps, gave him confidence for the rest of the season.
“My goal for this season is to make it to the World Championships” said the three-time French national medalist. “My first season in senior taught me that I have to work even harder. My long-term goal is to compete in the last group and aim for the podiums.”
He will compete in three weeks at NHK Trophy.
Andrew Torgashev
USA’s Andrew Torgashev found himself in 12th place (71.52) after he missed the quad toe and fell during his step sequence in the short program.
In the free skate, he underrotated the back end of a quad toe-double toe but landed a solo quad toe and four clean triples, including two triple Axels. He climbed from 12th to sixth place (233.36) overall.
“The free skate today was much better,” said the 24-year-old. “I improved the free skate compared to what I did at Nebelhorn a few weeks back, so this is definitely an improvement. Yesterday, the mistake on the toe really surprised me. I usually never pop, but what can you do about it? I went home, watched some Netflix, and today was a new day. I hope the free skate I did today can give me some confidence going into the next competition, which will be NHK Trophy.
Tatsuya Tsuboi
Tatsuya Tsuboi of Japan nailed his opening quad toe in his short program to “Anniversary” by Yoshiki. However, he out the first jump in a quad Salchow-double toe. The 2024 NHK Trophy bronze medalist went on to land a triple Axel and earned a level four on two spins and footwork to score a new personal best of 87.04 for fourth place.
“I’m obviously very happy that I reached my personal best today,” said the 22-year-old. “My next goal would be hitting 90 points. Looking at the protocol, I can definitely improve on the combination. If I had done a quad–triple combination, I probably would have reached that goal.”
The 2025 Japanese bronze medalist took two falls in his free skate: his opening quad toe and the second jump, a quad Salchow. He also underrotated the front end of a quad Salchow-double toe. He placed ninth (145.74) in this segment and slipped to seventh (232.78) overall.
Kao Miura
Japan’s Kao Miura opened his cinematic short program to “Conquest of Spaces” with an excellent a quad Salchow-triple toe. Unfortunately, he underrotated and stepped out of the triple Axel and landed a quad toe on the quarter. However, all three spins were graded a level four and the 2023 World Junior champion finished third with 87.25 points going into the free skate.
“I was watching the girls before, and of course I was aware that they took the first three placements, especially Ami’s performance was ‘sick!'” said the 20-year-old. “But I did concentrate on my own performance and focused on doing my job. I think I did it relatively well.”
Unfortunately, the five-time Grand Prix medalist took two falls (triple Axel and quad toe) in his free skate to The Last Samurai, placing 12th (122.32). With a total score of 209.57, he dropped to 10th place overall.
The skater thanked everyone for their support in post on X. Roughly translated, he mentioned his frustration at not being able to do in competition what he can do in practice. He said he will continue to work hard in order to show his best performance again.
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