Above: Ilia Malinin performs at the 2025 World Championships. Photo by Melanie Heaney/U.S. Figure Skating
By Troy Schwindt
Two-time and reigning World champion Ilia Malinin leads a strong U.S. contingent into 2025 Grand Prix de France, the kick-off event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, Oct. 17-19 in Angers, France.
The United States National Team will send two women, three men, two pairs and two ice dance teams to the competition at Angers IceParc.
Malinin is the two-time and defending ISU Grand Prix Final champion. He went undefeated last season and hasn’t lost a competition since 2023 Grand Prix de France. Malinin kicked off the current campaign with a convincing performance at Lombardia Trophy in Italy, where he won by more than 20 points.
He’ll be joined in the men’s event by the reigning U.S. silver and pewter medalists, Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov, respectively. Torgashev earned his first Grand Prix medal last season with bronze at 2024 Grand Prix de France and started this season with a silver medal at 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany. Naumov, the three-time and reigning U.S. pewter medalist, launched the current season at Lombardia Trophy, where he finished ninth.
In the women’s competition, Isabeau Levito and Elyce Lin-Gracey will represent the United States.
Levito, who placed fourth at the 2025 World Championships after missing the majority of last season due to injury, has competed twice this season, winning 2025 Cranberry Cup International before finishing fourth at Nebelhorn Trophy. Levito is the 2024 World silver medalist and 2023 U.S. champion. She secured bronze at her sole Grand Prix event last season.
The reigning World Junior bronze medalist, Lin-Gracey begins her second season competing in the Grand Prix Series. She jump-started the current season with an 11th-place finish at 2025 Nepela Memorial in Slovakia.
Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman and Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy will carry the torch for the U.S. National Team in the pairs competition.
McBeath and Parkman, the reigning U.S. silver medalists, have competed twice already this season, including earning the bronze medal at the 2025 John Nicks Pairs Challenge and finishing fifth at Nebelhorn Trophy.
Shin and Nagy, who became partners in May 2024, kicked off this season by placing seventh at the John Nicks Pairs Challenge Invitational and sixth at the ISU Skate to Milano Olympic Qualifier 2025.
In ice dance, veteran teams Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville and Eva Pate and Logan Bye will look to turn some heads this Grand Prix season.
Bratti and Somerville begin their third season competing in the Grand Prix Series. They earned the bronze medal at Grand Prix de France in 2024 and are the 2024 U.S. bronze medalists.
The married couple of Pate and Bye will compete at Grand Prix de France for the third time. They’ll enter the competition with momentum, having won Lombardia Trophy this fall.
Competition kicks off Thursday with the women’s and pairs short programs. The rhythm dance starts the full day of action on Saturday, followed by the women’s free skate, where the first medals will be awarded. The day finishes with the men’s short program and pairs free skate. Competition wraps up Sunday with the free dance and men’s free skate. The exhibition gala follows that evening.
NBC Sports will include a recap show of Grand Prix de France on Sunday, October 18. In addition, Peacock will livestream every skater with all events available for 72 hours following their conclusion. The full broadcast schedule can be found on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone and the Peacock streaming schedule is available at peacocktv.com/skating.
The Grand Prix Series, which started in 1995, consists of six international events in a cumulative point-scoring format. Each athlete or team is eligible to score points in up to two of the six scheduled events. The top six point-earners in each discipline qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025, set for Dec. 4-7 in Nagoya, Japan.
For a full schedule, results, news and more, visit the 2025 Grand Prix Series Competition Central.
U.S. ENTRIES AT 2025 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE
Athlete | Hometown | Training Town
Women
Isabeau Levito | Mount Holly, N.J. | Mount Laurel, N.J.
Elyce Lin-Gracey | Arcadia, Calif. | Colorado Springs, Colo.
Men
Ilia Malinin | Vienna, Va. | Reston, Va.
Maxim Naumov | Norwood, Mass. | Norwood, Mass.
Andrew Torgashev | Irvine, Calif. | Irvine, Calif.
Pairs
Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman | Garfield Heights, Ohio; Saint Petersburg, Russia | Irvine, Calif.
Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy | Northport, N.Y. ; Budapest, Hungary | Toronto, Canada
Ice Dance
Emily Bratt and Ian Somerville | McLean, Va.; Cabin John, Md. | Canton, Mich.
Eva Pate and Logan Bye | Cleveland, Ohio; Colorado Springs, Colo.| Novi, Mich.
