With the Grand Prix season at the halfway mark, and top rival Kim Yu Na of South Korea already having two victories in the bag, world champion Mao Asada finally takes to the ice for the first time in the new campaign when she skates at the Trophee Bompard in Paris this weekend.
Mao traveled to the French capital directly from Moscow, where she has been training under coach Tatiana Tarasova. Unlike the tough competition faced by Kim in her season-opening win at Skate America, Mao will not face a formidable field when she takes the ice at Bercy Arena.
Mao's primary challenge in Paris will come from Canada's Joannie Rochette, who won Skate Canada, and the American contingent of Caroline Zhang, the 2007 world junior champion, Beatrisa Liang and Emily Hughes.