Miki Ando
© AFP/Getty Images/File

PARIS (AFP) - The 18-year-old from Nagoya City stole the spotlight from the 17-year-old American and fellow Japanese skater Mao Asada by claiming the season opener at Skate America last month.

The women's field in Paris looks set for a battle this weekend with four medallists from the first two Grand Prix competing.

Ando, the first woman to land a quadruple jump in competition in 2002, has come back strong after injury last season which saw her finish 15th at the Turin Olympics.

She plans seven triples, including a difficult triple lutz-triple loop combination, as she bids to secure her place in next month's ISU Grand Prix final and put herself among the favourites for the world championships in Tokyo next March.

Kimmie Meissner
© AFP/Getty Images/File

Meissner, who took silver in Skate America, will also be looking to secure her spot in the Grand Prix final, along with Skate Canada champion Joannie Rochette, winner here in 2004, and South Koreas world junior champion Yu-Na Kim, 16, the bronze medal at Skate Canada.

While hosts France have no medal hopefuls in the women's event they have two of the top competitors in the men's with world silver medallist Brian Joubert making his first Grand Prix appearance of the season and Alban Preaubert his second after winning bronze at Skate America.

Joubert, 22, has not had a Grand Prix win in over two years, but feels confident that his new free programme Appocalyptica-Tentation Island will give him victory after taking silver here for the past two years.

"I want to win ... runner-up twice is enough! I feel good in this programme which has enormous potential and still has the possibility to evolve with three quadruple jumps," warned the skater from Poitiers.

With Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko not competing this season Russian hopes lie with Ilia Klimkin and Andrei Griazev, who are also medal contenders along with Canada's Shawn Sawyer, China's Xiaodong Ma and Japan's Yasuharu Nanri.

Brian Joubert
© AFP/File Thierry Zoccolan

In pairs, Olympic and world silver medallists Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang of China compete in a third, non-scoring event. Zhang and Zhang easily won at Skate Canada and are favourites to win in Paris.

Their challengers will be veterans Maria Petrova, 28, and Alexei Tikhonov, 36, who are back for another season despite announcing their retirement after taking bronze at worlds, and fellow Russians Yulia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov.

Americans Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, winners of Skate America and second at Skate Canada, a non-scoring event for the pair as it counted as their third competition, will be looking to wrap up a spot at the Grand Prix Final.

World ice dancing champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria are looking to continue their winning run in Paris, after taking the top prize at Skate America.

French hopes lie with Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, who took fourth place at the Winter Olympics, and Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, who placed third at Skate America.

The Grand Prix series consists of six international events in a cumulative point-scoring format, with the final two events the Cup of Russia in Moscow and the NHK Trophy in Nagano, Japan later this month.

Each athlete is eligible to score points in two of the six scheduled events with the top six scorers in each of the disciplines qualifying for the Grand Prix Final in St. Petersburg, Russia from December 14-17.

©AFP