Kaori Sakamoto and U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin will headline the Olympic season opener at the elite ISU Grand Prix de France in Angers starting Friday, looking to lay the groundwork for gold at the Milano Cortina Winter Games.
The first of the six-stop ISU Grand Prix series heads for western France from Oct. 17 to 19 as competitors build towards the Olympics, which get underway on Feb. 6 in northern Italy.
Skaters will compete in two of the six events on the schedule, with the top-ranked skaters qualifying for the Grand Prix Final, which this season is set for Nagoya from Dec. 4 to 7.
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