From a competitive standpoint, the goal of the ISU Grand Prix is to qualify for the Grand Prix Final and World Champions Nathan Chen of the U.S. and France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron did that just with wins in Grenoble at the Internationaux de France.
Chen won both the Short Program and the Free Skate to score 297.16 points, well ahead of Russia’s Alexander Samarin (265.10), but inferior to his prior score at Skate America (299.09). Papadakis and Cizeron won the Ice Dance at 222.24, in front of Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates (204.84).
Chen, still just 20, included had four quadruple jumps in his program and two triple Axels; he said afterwards, “I am happy to have qualified for the Final. Placement-wise of course, I’m happy with the results, both Skate America and France. Of course, [at] both Skate America and France I made mistakes. I made a lot of silly errors, errors that I need to fix.”
Chock and Bates noted that their change in schedule for this season made a difference. Said Bates, “We skated really well both short and free, and we are very pleased with the way the programs kind of open up and carry more speed throughout. I think doing two [ISU] Challengers [events] really was beneficial for us.”
Russians Alena Kostornaia (76.55) and World Champion Alina Zagitova (74.24) lead the women’s competition and the Russian Pairs of Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin (76.59) and Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov (73.77) have the lead, both after the Short Programs.
The competition continues with the women’s and Pairs events and will conclude on Sunday. Summaries so far:
ISU Grand Prix/Internationaux de France
Grenoble (FRA) ~ 1-3 November 2019
(Full results here)
Men: 1. Nathan Chen (USA), 297.16 (1st in Short Program + 1st in Free Skate); 2. Alexander Samarin (RUS), 265.10 (2+3); 3. Kevin Aymoz (FRA), 254.64 (3+2); 4. Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO), 236.38 (5+5); 5. Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA), 227.43 (10+4).
Ice Dance: 1. Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA), 222.24 (1+1); 2. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA), 204.84 (2+2); 3. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA), 203.34 (3+3); 4. Olivia Smart/Adrian Diaz (ESP), 188.18 (4+4); 5. Tiffani Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS), 184.44 (5+5).
