'24 Grand Prix de France

Marie! The baguettes!

Welcome to France! The one Grand Prix destination that actually uses “Grand Prix” in the name of the event. Competition kicks off early tomorrow morning for those of us in North America.

Here are the stories I’m tracking this weekend:

• Will the quality get any better? The last two weeks of Grand Prix events have been the competitive equivalent of a sad trombone. Multiple falls in Ice Dance, Women Menning, Deanna looking angry in the Kiss and Cry, Jason Brown appearing much too mortal for my tastes, etc. It’s still relatively early for the lengthy skating season, so it’s possible that there’s just an issue of pacing here. Nobody wants to be at their best just yet. But I’d love to see multiple skaters really come out swinging this week.

• Along those same lines— we’re going to see several top tier skaters for the first time on the Grand Prix this week: Adam Siao Him Fa (France- Men), Amber Glenn (USA- Women), Gubs the fake Georgian (Georgia-ish-Women), Chae Yeon Kim (South Korea-Women), Guignard/Fabbri (Italy- Ice Dance), and Hase/Volodin (Germany-Pairs). Given that most of the top contenders in each discipline have been lackluster this year, it’s an opportunity for some or all of these skaters to make a statement. I’m especially anxious for Amber Glenn; she’s supposedly put in the work this summer to address some of her mental blocks. I want to see her THRIVE this year.

• There’s two American Men in this competition: Camden Pulkinen and Andrew Torgashev. I’m curious to see if either one of them can make a run at being the Third or even the Second American Man. They’re both victims of the “so much potential” curse: so artsy, so good when they’re good… but they both inevitably mess up their jumps when things are going well. I had some hopes for Camden since he graduated from college last spring; perhaps he would focus on skating full time and get some consistency. Alas, I just read an interview in which he talks about his full time finance job. Skating is expensive, and I’m sure he’s doing what he has to in order to make it work, but I fear this means he’s still a house divided, and that can’t stand.

• Will the Pairs continue their upswing? Right after the Olympics, Pairs was essentially, “show up and get a medal.” But now, there’s actual quality emerging. Things are getting interesting. The Not-So-Secret Russians from Uzbekistan are back this week, the American Pair that won bronze at Skate America is here, and there’s at least three other teams that look interesting for medals. Pairs could be good??

• In Ice Dance, it will be Guignard/Fabbri in first unless they fall multiple times. Yes, multiple. They don’t really have a close competitor ready to swoop into gold here like Chock/Bates did at Skate America. The real competition is happening behind them with all the teams scrabbling to finish ahead of each other to build reputation points.

• I’m especially interested in this week’s Battle of the American Ice Dance B Teams. We have Bratti/Somerville, who had another fall in last week’s Skate Canada, after their truly devastating fall at 2024 Worlds. They’ll be looking to prove that was (another) fluke. A third fall probably cements them as bottom of the American B Teams. Then we have Neset/Markelov, who almost certainly must feel the scrutiny of a thousand eyes glaring at their marriage license that proves they drove to New Mexico when Leah was 17 to get married WITH BOTH THEIR MOTHERS PRESENT AS WITNESSES. I do think they are legitimately very good, but it’s hard to root for them under the icky circumstances. And then there’s another married couple (married as adults, for what it’s worth), Eva Pate and Logan Bye. I’m neutral on them, but I predict they’ll come out ahead of the other two just because they’ve been on the Grand Prix longer.

• As always, I’m most excited for Women. But this week, it’s an excitement tempered with dread, given the last two weeks. It’s not quite the same situation, but I’m singing this Sabrina Carpenter lyric in my head:

  

• That said, here’s some Women that I’m excited about, other than Amber Glenn (who I don’t want to look at too long lest I jinx her some how):

  • Wakaba! This is her second Grand Prix. Finishing on the podium sets her up really well to make it to the Grand Prix Final and as a top Japanese Woman in a very competitive intra-country field. I worry that pressure will do her in. She had a great situation at Skate America— no one expected much of her because her comeback has been just okay, and she went into the free skate in fourth place but actually not far behind from a points perspective. She didn’t have to go to the short program press conference, and she didn’t have a bunch of people going, “Ooooh, she might do it.” She just did it. And, again, got a little bit lucky that everyone else was pretty meh in the free skate. If she podiums here, her chances at being a real Women’s contender skyrocket.

  • Sarah Everhardt (USA) is VERY INTERESTING to me. She trains with Ilia and his parents, and she seems to have the same solid technique that he does. She didn’t dominate as a junior, and she seems to be growing into her skating prowess as a senior, which is great timing for her. She has a quiet confidence and clear work ethic that remind me of Bradie Tennell in her first senior season. In a field of nervy US Women, I think she could really pull ahead this season, just in time for USFS to bank on her consistency in an Olympic year.

  • Mai Mihara (Japan): she’s an ethereal fairy wood nymph on ice when she’s at her best. Last season, injuries took some of the magic out of of her performances. Curious to see where she is this year.

  • Chae-yeon Kim (South Korea): Her early season has been excellent. Consistent jumps, good packaging, high scores. She looks READY. I see her as the biggest challenger for Kaori this year. One hitch: South Korea has a reputation for exhausting their skaters by making them compete too much domestically. She looks great NOW, but she might be the only skater in danger of peaking too soon this year.

I’m off work this week for a Staycation, so I’m looking forward to settling in at 9 AM ET tomorrow to watch the Women. I might even go out early to grab a breakfast burrito so I can really make a meal of it.

Some Other Resources:

The full list of entries for each discipline here.

What is the Grand Prix Series? So You Want to Watch Figure Skating has a great explainer.

How to watch

For actual technical skating commentary: Jackie Wong on Twitter or Threads. Here are his previews for Grand Prix de France: Women, Men. Pairs and Dance not yet posted when I sent this.

And, if you’re curious, here are my takes on the Main Characters of the whole season: Pairs, Men, Dance, International Women, American Women.

You’re welcome to follow along with me on social media, though I’m not that consistent about commenting while I’m watching an event live: my personal Twitter , The Nice Capades Instagram, or The Nice Capades Threads (where I have never once posted a single thing, but you never know.)

Three Non-Figure Skating Things:

• Last time, I said I would try out this pumpkin painting craft. It went okay, though I think it’s possible that creator did something sneaky to make her colors so vibrant. At the very least, I’d like to know which markers she actually thinks work the best. My cousin, a noted Swiftian scholar, noted, “That pumpkin looks like it’s been a long time coming.”

• Halloween is probably my favorite day on social media. Punny and creative costumes! Babies dressed as lobsters in pots! Dogs embarrassed but hilarious! Children at their best! It’s a day when the Internet feels joyful instead of grim. Here are a bunch of dogs in costume, here’s Lilah and Lewis’s annual costume, and here’s my dog reluctantly welcoming you to Buc-ee’s at her doggy daycare’s costume party:

  

• AHP wrote about developing and maintaining hobbies this week, and it struck a chord with me as I’m staycationing this week and trying to do things I WANT to do rather than things I NEED to do. I think the full post is behind a paywall, but this is the part that is the hard truth:

  The secret isn’t having a part-time job, although a flexible one certainly helps. It’s also not “having no children,” because all sorts of people have kids and hobbies. “Being financially secure” is the secret to everything, so while it’s instrumental to finding time for a hobby, it’s not actually the secret to having one. The secret is deprioritizing the things I don’t actually care about but have historically internalized I should.

  And then:

  So I want to be very clear here: I’m not telling you that you should be doing all of those things well and also have a cool hobby. I’m saying you should spend some time figuring out what you actually like doing — and then figure out what you can safely be shitty at in order to give that thing more space. Maybe that requires a conversation with your partner, or your therapist, or asking a lot of people in your life to reaffirm that no one fucking cares.

  Coupling that with today’s meditation from Meditations for Mortals:

  Almost no body wants to hear the real answer to the question of how to spend more of your finite time doing things that matter to you, which involves no system. The answer is: you just do them. You pick something you genuinely care about, and then, for at least a few minutes— quarter of an hour, say— you do some it. Today.

  Guess today is the day I give up meal prepping so I can paint pumpkins instead.

What’s Next: Back after the Grand Prix de France ends for a little debrief. And then some October Endorsements! It’ll be Double Newsletters! Like a Double Rainbow but more wordy.