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Malinin wins men's figure skating at French Grand Prix / Photo: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER - AFP
Malinin wins men's figure skating at French Grand Prix
American Ilia Malinin won the French Grand Prix figure skating competition in Angers on Sunday, dethroning three-time defending champion Adam Siao Him Fa of France, who finished second.
Looking majestic in his black jumpsuit with puffed sleeves, the two-time world champion scored an impressive 321.00 points after his two programmes.
On Sunday, he punctuated his free routine with five quadruple jumps and did not need to pull out his famous quadruple axel, a jump that only he has mastered.
He finished more than 40 points ahead of Siao Him Fa.
There was better news for the home crowd as Guillaume Cizeron and his new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry produced a captivating free dance routine to win gold at their first international competition together.
Third after the rhythm dance despite a fall at the end of the programme, they managed to climb back up the rankings thanks to a wonderful performance in the free dance, skated to the music of the soundtrack from the film 'The Whale'.
Their performance earned them 133.02 points, an impressive score for the start of the season.
"There's always apprehension, of course," said Cizeron after an impressive first outing for the pair who came together following his official split with Gabriella Papadakis in December 2024.
Cizeron and Papadakis had skated together since they were about 10, going on to win countless medals including five world championships and the Olympic gold in 2022.
Since then, he has been working with Fournier Beaudry with a view to the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
"It's always a mixture of lots of emotions, fear, excitement," he said.
"But I think that with experience and each other's energy, we manage to let go and get into our characters and the magic of the moment."
The pair won with a total of 211.02 points, 0.8 points ahead of the British duo Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (210.24 points) who had led after a spicy routine in the rhythm dance.
Lithuanians Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius took third place.
Angers is the first of the six ISU Grand Prix as competitors build towards the Olympics, which get under way on February 6 in northern Italy.
K.Evans--SMC
