World silver medalist Shoma Uno finished runner-up in the short program on Friday night at the Internationaux de France.
Uno earned 93.92 points to sit behind Javier Fernandez, who took the lead with 107.86 points. Russian Alexander Samarin took third with 91.51 points.
Uno, seeking his second Grand Prix title of the season after his victory at last month's Skate Canada, fell while executing his first jump, a quadruple flip.
"It was really tough," said Uno. "I didn't think I would be able to execute my jumps. I was just doing it out of a sense of responsibility."
In the women's short program, Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond led with 69.05, Yuna Shiraiwa (66.05) and Mai Mihara (64.57) were third and fourth, respectively.
Maria Sotskova (67.79) of Russia is in second place.
The 15-year-old Shiraiwa extended her personal best by 3.09 points while appearing in her second senior GP event. She was eighth at the NHK Trophy in Osaka last week.
"I'm glad that I rewrote my personal best," Shiraiwa said. "I concentrated on skating like I usually do during practice, so I wasn't afraid."
Osmond took the lead with a crowd-pleasing but flawed short program.
Skating to Edith Piaf's "Sous le ciel de Paris" and "Milord,"Osmond had the crowd clapping along despite landing awkwardly on her double toe loop and putting her hand on the ice to regain balance after her triple lutz.
Osmond, the world silver medalist who won Skate Canada last month, still secured first place in the penultimate qualifying event for next month's Grand Prix Final in Nagoya.
"Definitely not my best short program," Osmond wrote on Twitter. "But I'm proud I fought through and made being here worth it."
Osmond was closely followed by Sotskova, who cleanly executed a triple lutz/triple toe loop combination but made a two-footed landing on her triple flip.
Shiraiwa put on a graceful performance devoid of any major mistakes, earning the highest technical elements score.
After winning her first GP last month, world junior champion Alina Zagitova struggled to find her rhythm, falling on her triple lutz/triple toe loop combo before taking another tumble on her triple flip.
The 15-year-old Russian is in fifth place with 62.46.
Fernandez, a two-time world champion, landed two quads in a dazzling performance.
Fernandez's inspired skate showed he was back on track after a disastrous performance at the Cup of China earlier this month where he faltered on three jumps in his free skate.
Russia's Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, the bronze medalists at this year's world championships, finished first in the pairs with 77.84 despite being out of sync in the step sequence at the end of their short program.
In ice dance, France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron skated their season's best short program, finishing first with 81.40.
The men's and women's free programs were set for Saturday.