by Matteo Morelli

After Skate America and Skate Canada International, it is already time to dive into the third grand prix of the season, Grand Prix de France!

Going back for a third year in a row in Angers, Grand Prix de France was first held in 1987 in Paris, however it went through different iterations of its name, going from Grand Prix International de Paris to the recent Internationaux de France and the current name it adopted since moving to Angers.

Teams at the event

Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri are the third medallists from the last World Championships to start this season’s Grand Prix journey (the top 3 at Worlds don’t face each other in the six Grand Prix events). They will aim to win a third consecutive gold medal in Angers, skating on their futuristic free programme where they impersonate robots on the ice, a surprising change of direction for a strong team that has rarely deviated from their preferred style. This season, Guignard & Fabbri have already collected gold medals from Lombardia Trophy and Shanghai Trophy, and will aim to continue the trend to stay at the top in view of their intention to compete at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, Italy, where they train and live.

Lithuania’s Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevičius are fresh from a gold medal won at Trophée Métropole Nice, which is an important result given Ambrulevičius had a little injury in the summer that potentially slowed down their getting ready for the new season. The current European bronze medallists will want to continue showing their growth as skaters, particularly in view of Reed’s journey to hopefully obtain Lithuanian citizenship that will allow the duo to compete at the next Olympics.

Back to back Grand Prix for Evgeniia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud of France, who head to Angers with a bronze medal from Skate Canada International. They will try to at least equal, if not improve, their result at this event, showing how much they are growing as the top ice dance French team.

The French audiences will also enjoy another two French teams: Natacha Lagouge & Arnaud Caffa, who have already competed at Lombardia Trophy and Trophée Métropole Nice; and Marie Dupayage & Thomas Nabais, at third consecutive Grand Prix de France attendance but with two Grand Prix assignments for the first time.

Three American teams will be flying overseas to Angers: Emily Bratti & Ian Somerville, who like Lopareva & Brissaud were at Skate Canada International and will want to make up for the costly mistake they had there; Junior World Champions Leah Neset & Artem Markelov, who started their senior Grand Prix career with a fantastic fifth place finish at Skate America and new personal bests for their free and overall scores; and Eva Pate & Logan Bye, who have already collected bronze medals from Lake Placid Ice Dance and Trophée Métropole Nice.

At their second Grand Prix after Skate America will be Kateřina Mrázková & Daniel Mrázek of the Czech Republic, who ended in sixth place and will aim at improving their results, and Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac of Canada seventh at Skate America and ready to show their cowboy routine once more.

Event info: The rhythm dance kicks off on Friday, November 1, at 4:00pm (CET); the free dance occurs on Saturday, November 2, at 5:50pm (CET).