I don’t even know how to characterize this ice dance field at the very first Grand Prix of the season. Grand Prix de France is going to feature so many great teams who could be and have been on the Grand Prix podium before. And to top it off, we have the addition of a new team in Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron. The big question will be how they stack up, particularly against reigning World bronze medalists Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson and two-time World medalists Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri. This will be a competition to behold.
2025 Grand Prix de France predictions
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GOLD Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri ITA - It’s been a mystery! Guignard/Fabbri have not been seen in competition so far this season, and usually, they will have had at least done Lombardia Trophy, their home Challenger event. So in a lot of ways, these predictions are kind of out of thin air—well, at least previous-season-inspired thin air. What’s actually going to happen this week? Nobody knows. This top three could be in any order.
SILVER Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson GBR - It’s not been the start that the World bronze medalists were hoping for this season. They had a couple of errors in their win at Nebelhorn Trophy and barely broke 200 there, and they will be looking to be more near the 205-210 range if they are to challenge for one of these top spots.
BRONZE Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron FRA - We’ve seen them once so far this season, and that was at French Masters in late August. Since then, they scrapped their first rhythm dance (their 90s music was released in 1989) for a new program. There’s no doubt their partnership has gelled well already, but the question is how do they stack up in components against the rest of this field. Their sky-high scores at French Masters were a sign that France is certainly putting all their eggs in this team’s basket—you’d expect those scores to come down to earth a bit this week.
4. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius LTU - Olympic qualification out of the way, Reed/Ambrulevicius can rest easier now that their spot in Milano is secure. They had a busy pre- and early season to make sure they were in top shape going into the qualifying event, and they have had a month since that event to regroup and start the season for real.
5. Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin GEO - There is certainly momentum for Davis/Smolkin afte two consecutive wins in two weeks on the Challenger Series. They enter their third competition in a row (much like Nika Egadze in the men’s event), and you wonder if it too many in a row. You also wonder if the scores they got in perhaps more favorable locales will maintain this week in their first GP.
6. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville USA - It’s our first look this season at the former US bronze medalists. They were third here last season and so they know what it takes to win a Grand Prix medal. A couple of clean skates from them and they could very well find themselves in the top five.
7. Eva Pate/Logan Bye USA - A nice win at Lombardia Trophy gave them a great start to their season. Internationally, they have had some very good results of the past couple of seasons, but they have perhaps been more inconsistently scored than they would like to be. The 187 that they got at Lombardia would be competitive here among this deep field, but where will they find themselves this week?
8. Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain le Gac CAN - Their two Challenger events this season have definitely sent them mixed signals—a win at Kinoshita Group Cup in early september with a 198 and then 17 points lower two weeks later at Nebelhorn Trophy, where they took bronze. It’s not often that you see such swings in scores without major errors, and they will be looking to calibrate where they stand this week in the first GP.
9. Natacha Lagouge/Arnaud Caffa FRA - Fourth at Lombardia Trophy, Lagouge/Caffa return to their home Grand Prix after taking eighth here last year.
10. Celina Fradji/Jean-Hans Fourneaux FRA - Already a busy season for the two-time French junior champs, they made their debut on the senior international circuit with some solid results so far. They were sixth last week at Trialeti Trophy.