Nakai Ami made her senior Grand Prix debut with a bang, getting the highest score for a female singles skater thus far in the Olympic 2025-26 figure skating season.
The 17-year-old from Japan earned a staggering 78.00 points for her short program at the 2025 Grand Prix de France in Angers on Friday, 17 October to overtake her compatriot, Olympic silver medallist and three-time world champion Sakamoto Kaori in the standings.
Sakamoto scored 76.20 points to take second place going into Saturday’s free skate, while USA’s Isabeau Levito was third with 73.37 points.
An opening triple Axel was the highlight of Nakai’s outstanding program, which also featured a triple Lutz-triple toe loop jump combination, a triple loop, and top-level spins.
A fourth-place finisher at last year’s World Junior Figure Skating Championships, Nakai seemed to understand that she had delivered something special as she pumped her fist in celebration after completing her skate.
“Having gone from junior to senior, I was really looking forward to skating with many great skaters,” Nakai said. “On this very big stage today I was able to skate a clean short program and I was also able to land my triple Axel and also exceed my personal score, so I’m really, really happy.
“I had imagined myself finishing with no mistakes and doing a fist pump. I think that positive image really helped me.”
Nakai’s score of 78.00 was enough to overtake Shin Jia of the Republic of Korea as the top score by a female skater in a short program this season. Shin scored 74.47 en route to finishing third at the Nebelhorn Trophy in late September.
While she is a newcomer to the senior Grand Prix stage, Nakai had some valuable veteran help along the way that helped make a successful debut.
“For the short program, Takahashi Daisuke worked with me to polish the performance,” she said of the Vancouver 2010 bronze medallist. “That really helped me gain confidence in my expression. I think that confidence showed in my score.”
AloJapan.com