Adam Siao Him Fa wins his third French Grand Prix

Author of a new fantastic comeback after his 8^e place in the short program on Friday, the Frenchman Adam Siao Him Fa flew over the free to win his third French Grand Prix of figure skating in a row, in Angers, on Saturday.

Nothing should surprise anymore coming from the whimsical skater from Bordeaux, neither his audacity on the ice, nor his combativeness in difficulty. But after moving up 16 places in March at the Worlds from 19^e at 3^e place, never seen before, he once again wrote a page of history because never has a skater ranked higher than 7^e place after the short had won a Grand Prix.

Upset but not dejected on Friday evening, he returned relaxed and released on Saturday afternoon. “On Friday, I had more pressure, pressure that I put on myself, which is a bit stupid”he admitted after his free.

“I went there like it was training”

Injured an ankle during the summer and with only five weeks of preparation, he knew he was not 100%, even if he assured that he had not “no more pain, overall my ankle is doing very well”.

After having “cleared my mind”, “I went there like it was training, forgetting everything else, leaving my brain at the side of the track when I got back on the ice”he said.

Certainly, his performance “was far from perfect”as he admitted, and he also benefited from the very mediocre exercises of the skaters ahead of him in the ranking. Even Mikhail Shaidorov's triple axel-quadruple toe loop sequence, which no one had ever achieved in competition, did not allow the Kazakh to do better than 5^e free and 4^e overall, behind the Japanese Koshiro Shimada and the American Andrew Torgashev who complete the men's podium.

But Siao Him Fa's new program, inspired by the music and the world of the film “Dune”, won over the judges and an audience at the IceParc in Angers that was already largely won over. “I am very optimistic about this program”he slipped, promising to “keep working hard”.

Halfway through the six Grand Prix season, his next stop will be the final stop in Chongqing, China, from November 22-24, just before the Final Grand Prix which will be held in Grenoble in early December.

Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud triumph in dance

If he qualifies, he will meet French dancers Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud, 3^e at Skate Canada last week and first Saturday, in front of the Italians Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri, double European champions and double title holders in Angers. “It’s an incredible experience to win our first competition in France, in front of our families, our friends, our public. Winning this medal is super cool”rejoiced Brissaud.

The Italians, arch-favorites and well ahead after the short end, struggled to explain their collapse. “I think it’s the worst performance of our 15-year career”asserted Marco Fabbri, “nothing worked this evening, we struggled on each of the elements”.

Before that, among the women, the American Amber Glenn, who had flown over the court on Friday, won despite a fall during the freestyle. She beat the two Japanese Wakaba Higuchi and Rion Sumiyoshi. Higuchi, who won Skate America at the start of the season, is sure to be in Grenoble too.

Rankings

Men: 1. Adam Siao Him Fa (Fra) 246.58 pt ; 2. Koshida Shimada (Jap) 233.84 pt ; 3. Andrew Torgashev (USA) 233.64 pt…
Women : 1. Amber Glenn (USA) 210,44 pt ; 2. Wakaba Higuchi (Jap) 206,8 pt ; 3. Rion Sumiyoshi (Jap) 201,35 pt…
Danse : 1. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud (F) 195.27 pt ; 2. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (Now) 189.08 pt; 3. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville (USA) 185.88 pts.
Couple : 1. Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (All) 211.69 pts; 2. Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (Ita) 203.39 pts; 3. Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (Ita) 176.62 pts…