Competition kicked off today at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025 in Nagoya, Japan, with World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates looking to continue their undefeated seasons.
 
Chock and Bates, who are seeking a third consecutive crown and seventh medal at this event, are halfway there. The three-time and reigning World champions sit atop the leaderboard after the rhythm dance, staving off a strong challenge by the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
 
"It was a long day, so it felt like two separate days," Chock said after the competition. "We were happy to get out there and be in front of the audience. It was amazing to just feel their energy and reignite our own."
 
Performing a sleek program to the stylings of Lenny Kravitz, the married couple attacked the quintet of technical elements with improved confidence than from their earlier outings this season. Chock and Bates earned Level 4s on their opening twizzle sequence as well as the closing electric rotational lift. They head into tomorrow's free dance with 88.74 points, a new season's best.
 
"We did put a little bit of emphasis on some technical stuff after the first two Grand Prix events," Bates explained. "We have been seeing how strict the technical panels have gotten over the series, and we knew we had to really be diligent with the cleanliness of our turns and things like that. As we progress through the season, each time we get out, we feel a little bit more comfortable, and I think today was definitely our best performance of the season."
 
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, the current U.S. pewter medalists, sit in sixth place in their first appearance at this event.
 
Despite a strong performance of their routine to "Poison" and "Something in Your Eyes" "Poison" and "Something in Your Eyes" by Bell Biv Devoe with two Level 4 elements, they received a two-point deduction for an illegal element/movement, finishing the segment with 75.78 points.
 
"The crowd was really amazing, and we always look forward to coming to Japan. It's our second time, and we've had an amazing time here so far," Zingas said. "We are a little confused about how things went with the scoring, but it's just something that we have to look at with our team. We had an illegal element called, and we haven't made any changes over the last competition, so just a little confused, but we're really excited just to be here and proud of the performance we put out."
 
In the men's event, Malinin, also the two-time and defending Grand Prix Final champion, tested out a new technical layout in his quest to extend his win streak. Malinin, has won 12 straight individual competitions starting with the Grand Prix Final in 2023, planned to open his "Dies Irae" and "The Lost Crown" program with a quadruple Axel-triple toe loop, but he wasn't able to complete the combination as he stumbled on the quad Axel and it was scored as a quarter under.

"This was first time to try it, so I wasn't really aware of how it could go," the two-time World champion admitted. "Overall, I think I was trying to go for it, and it just didn't work out, so I put it aside and went through the rest of the program."
 
Malinin was also scored as being a quarter rotation under on the first half of his late-program quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop. He finished in third place with 94.05 points as a result.
 
"I said I wanted to just try this new layout. It was a really big risk, and it didn't work out in my favor today. Overall, that's okay for me. I just have to try my best and keep going."
 
Earlier in the day, 17-year-old Lucius Kazanecki finished in fourth place in his debut in the junior men's event. The 2024 U.S. junior champion connected on each of his jumping passes, including a strong triple Axel, and missed eclipsing his personal best by less than one point. Kazanecki finished with 72.13 points, a little more than two points out of podium position heading into the free skate.

"I was happy with the jumps, but I'm a little disappointed with everything else — the step sequence and spins," he said. "I thought it was actually pretty good. In the practice, I don't know if it's because I'm nervous, I got a little nervous, maybe a little excited about planning everything, so that might have something to do with it."
 
Competition continues tomorrow with top qualifiers Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin kicking off their campaign to capture the junior ice dance title in their debut in the Junior Grand Prix Final. Teammates Jasmine Robertson and Chase Rohner, a new team in their first season on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, will also compete, hoping to continue their meteoric rise up the ranks in a fight for the podium. Kazanecki will seek to put a stamp on the day's junior events as he attempts to add another piece of hardware to his trophy case after the free skate.
 
Defending champion Amber Glenn and reigning World Champion Alysa Liu will close out the day, opening their quest to stave off a strong contingent of Japanese women en route to the podium. This marks Glenn's second appearance in the event, while Liu is making her debut.

For full results at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025, visit the U.S. Figure Skating website.