Oct 21, 2026 · 54 min
Grand Prix France opens a reshaped skating season
Locked out of Chanel
The season opener tests how returning champions, emerging contenders, and post-Olympic changes are altering the competitive order.
- 1Returning champions and new programs make ice dance’s post-Olympic reshuffle especially consequential.
- 2Women’s skating brings developing consistency, coaching changes, and unusual depth across Japan and Korea.
- 3Behind Ilia Malinin, men’s and pairs skating offer contrasting tests of technical firepower, consistency, and competitive identity.
Don't miss
The hosts’ Paris memories culminate in the humorous story of a closed Chanel store and Ashley’s beret.
The brief
The hosts open the Grand Prix season in France by assessing how the post-Olympic reset has changed the field and raised new questions across every discipline.
Ice dance centers on returning champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko pursue a more lyrical direction.
The women’s field pairs Sarah Everhardt’s anticipated senior debut with Nina Pinzarrone’s coaching change, Amina Kihira’s consistency, and Rion Sumiyoshi’s difficult reset.
Ilia Malinin remains the men’s clear favorite, but Vladislav Dikidji, Adam Siao Him Fa, and Mikhail Shaidorov could define the race behind him.
Pairs skating gets its own reset as Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovski return to face Olympic medalists Metelkina and Berulava.
The episode ends with memories of Paris, including a closed Chanel store and Ashley’s beret, before turning to the Patreon draft and Skate America shows.
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