It’s been a wild few weeks in the ice dance world—panel strictness, barbs thrown, unexpected results, uncharacteristic mistakes—but we have made it to the Grand Prix Final, and here, we’ve got the six teams who got through, with four of them being favored to be Olympic podium contenders in Milano. With the technical panel being different from the one we saw in the final two Grand Prix events, perhaps the agita over the calls will die down, and we can let the skating speak for itself.
2025 Grand Prix Final predictions
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GOLD Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron FRA - The new Olympic title threat this season has had a couple of unusual Grand Prix competitions, the first where they took a fall in the rhythm dance and the second where they had unexpected calls from the technical panel. Either way, they continue to be the team that has the biggest potential to defeat the World champions here. How they stack up against Chock/Bates will be an intriguing outcome of this week’s event.
SILVER Madison Chock/Evan Bates USA - The three-time World champions are also the two-time and defending Grand Prix Final champions. Chock/Bates have only ever been first or second since their third-place finish at Worlds four years ago, and they look to continue that streak here this week. But more than anything, they would love to go into 2026 being the top team over Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron. They made changes to both programs between Grand Prix events and they’ve had three more weeks to work on the feedback from Skate America, and it will be a close one.
BRONZE Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier CAN - Having started relatively late this season in competition, Gilles/Poirier have been somewhat playing catch-up on getting comfortable with their programs. Their improvements from Skate Canada to Finlandia Trophy were evident, and they have a chance to push up their execution some more this week. Where they stand relative to FB/C and C/B will say a lot about how the Olympics might shape up.
4. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson GBR - Coming off their eighth British national title, Fear/Gibson have been busy this season in competition. It’s also meant that they’ve been agile with their programs to optimize their elements with feedback from those events. They were third last year at the Final, and will be looking to get back on the podium here.
5. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius LTU - After not making the free dance last season at Worlds because of a mistake in the rhythm dance, Reed/Ambrulevicius have been on a mission (and on a tear), medaling at both of their Grand Prix events after qualifying their Olympic spot early in the season. They have been the most prepared team at every event they’ve competed in, and that counts for a lot when teams have been losing valuable points on levels.
6. Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik USA - Getting this Grand Prix Final berth under their belt was a huge get for a team that has been showing so much potential over the past few years but have yet to make it onto the Worlds team. Don’t forget that their scores have been strong this season, including a 200+ score at Cup of China—they won’t be here just for the fun of qualifying.