ANGERS, France - Japan's Olympic bronze medalist Ami Nakai rallied from third place after the short program to defend her Grand Prix de France women's singles title on Saturday.
Nakai, who earned bronze at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, landed a triple axel in the free skate and produced the top segment score to finish the season-opening event with 219.74 points overall.
Georgia's Anastasiia Gubanova took silver with 202.82 points, while Italy's Lara Naki Gutmann totaled 202.37 for bronze.
Japan's Yuna Aoki, the reigning Four Continents champion who led after the short program, struggled with a series of jump errors, including a fall, and dropped to fourth with 200.62 points. Rion Sumiyoshi placed sixth on 190.70.
"Because I believed in myself, I was able to skate well," Nakai said. "I'm absolutely thrilled. After performing well on the big stage last season, I came here wanting to win. The fact that I was able to overcome that pressure means a lot."
In ice dance, Olympic champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France captured a second straight France GP crown.
The French pair topped both the rhythm dance and free dance and finished with a winning total of 207.57 points in front of the home crowd in Angers.
The France event is the opening competition of this season's six-stop Grand Prix series.
