OSAKA, JAPAN, (Nov. 8, 2025) – Competing in their first Grand Prix event of the season, Alicia Fabbri (Terrebonne, QC) and Paul Ayer (Brossard, QC) posted the best Canadian result, finishing in ninth place in ice dance on Saturday at the NHK Trophy taking place in Osaka, Japan. The skaters earned a final score of 174.71.
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (205.88), bronze medallists at the 2025 World Championships, won ahead of Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (198.67), and United States’ Caroline Green and Michael Parsons (187.90).
“We skated very well. Our goal was to be connected from start to finish and get our best score of the season. We achieved both goals,” Ayer proudly acknowledged. “For my part, I feel like I skated my best so far, so I’m proud of myself!”
His teammate Fabbri also mentioned how positive their stay in Japan has been.
“The free dance was very good and we had good chemistry on the ice. That showed in our performance. This is our first time at the NHK Trophy and we had a lot of fun!” added the national bronze medallist.
In the women’s event, Katherine Medland Spence (Ottawa, Ont.), competing in her first Grand Prix, finished 11th (146.63), while the competition was won by local favourite and world silver medallist Kaori Sakamoto (227.18) from Japan. Kazakhstan’s Sofia Samodelkina (200.00) and Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx (198.97) followed in second and third place, respectively.
“Overall, I’m happy. Even though there were mistakes, I’m making progress. I enjoyed skating with the best skaters in the world here,” said Medland Spence, bronze medallist at the 2025 Canadian Championships.
The next ISU Grand Prix event, Skate America, will be held next weekend in Lake Placid, New York.
The full competition results can be found here.