Kevin Aymoz of France captured his first Grand Prix gold at 2025 Skate America on Saturday night in Lake Placid, NY. Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan rose from third to claim the silver, while Japan’s Kazuki Tomono slipped to third for the bronze.

Kevin Aymoz

The 2022 Olympian placed second in the short program with a new season’s best of 93.56 going into the free skate. His entertaining routine to “Le lac” and “Judas” included a quad toe-triple toe, triple Axel and triple Lutz. However, only one spin was rewarded with a level four, as did his excellent footwork.

“That was a really stressful event for me because I came back from injury and I’m still injured,” said the 28-year-old. “But after my first Grand Prix, there was not a lot of time to recover and practice. The six-minute warm up today was really difficult for me, so it took me a lot of energy and power to come back and deliver this performance. I’m really proud of myself tonight.”

The seven-time Grand Prix medalist made mistakes in his dramatic free skate to “Boléro,” but it was much improved for his showing at Skate Canada. He held on to the landing of his first quad toe and then landed the second on the quarter in combination with a double toe. The triple Axel-double Axel sequence and triple toe-Euler-triple Salchow were clean, but he stepped out of a solo triple Lutz and underrotated and stepped out of a triple Axel. Still, he showed excellent level-four footwork and earned a level four on two spins to finish second in this segment with 159.97 points. With a total score of 253.53, he edged out Mikhail Shaidorov for the gold.

“Finally, a gold medal, especially at Skate America for me, so I feel like I’m one of the biggest medalists!” said Aymoz. “Incredible, and especially to share this competition with those guys. They’re so good and it makes the competition even more fun to compete. When I woke up this morning I was going for the win. I said go, ‘big or go home.’

“The two weeks since Skate Canada were really mentally challenging,” he added. “During the program I was not thinking. I went jump by jump, element by element.”

Mikhail Shaidorov

The 2025 World silver medalist opened his short program with a quad Lutz-triple toe, but the front end was deemed slightly underrotated. He followed up with a strong triple Axel and quad toe in his rock and roll routine to “In the Air Tonight” and “No Good.” Two spins were graded a level four, and he placed third in this segment with 89.67 points.

“Today I was so happy because I did everything,” said the 2025 Cup of China bronze medalist. “The audience was very exciting and I’m very happy to be here again. I went to Lake Placid in 2023 to the University Games. I liked my performance today and I feel I skated clean. Of course, I still need to add something as the season goes on. Tomorrow I will fight in my free skating.”

And fight he did. His free skate featured a solid triple Axel-Euler-quad Salchow and quad Lutz, but then he took a fall on a quad flip and quad toe. His difficult routine to “Confessa” and “Diva Dance” otherwise included two level-four spins, but he also received a “q” on the front end of a quad toe-double toe.  Despite the errors, the 21-year-old won the free skate with 161.42 points, and with a total score of 251.09, moved up to second place overall.

“Today was not bad,” said the 2025 Four Continents Champion. “I really deserved to be here, going to the Final. Skate America was really difficult for me, but I fought. For me it’s quite difficult to get into the season and I think the mistakes were more like a mental thing. They were not that major, even though I fell. The most important thing for me is that I fought until the very end. It was a difficult day, but I managed and I will continue to strive for improvement. I think I got a lot of experience from this competition and so I think it will get better.”

Kazuki Tomono

The 2022 Four Continents silver medalist put out a solid short program that featured a quad toe-triple toe, quad Salchow and triple Axel. His upbeat routine to “That’s It (I’m Crazy)” also featured good spins and footwork, and he earned a new season’s best of 95.77 going into the free skate.

The skater said he felt calm and confident and noted how excited the crowd was.

“I was really happy that the audience was fired up, but the more that happens, it kind of backfires and makes me more nervous,” said Tomono. “I want to make sure that doesn’t happen in the free skating.”

“I do want to make a comeback for what happened in Canada,” he added of his fourth-place finish at the event. “There was a similar situation in 2021 in the Cup of Russia where I was first place in the short and I got 95. And in the free, I ended up getting third place because of some mistakes. That was a really frustrating moment for me. It’s probably my biggest memory from these Grand Prix series. I feel like I have been keeping that in mind for all of these years. I want to make sure that I don’t repeat that in the free tomorrow and make sure that I give my best.”

Unfortunately, the 27-year-old took two falls in his free skate and stepped out of a triple Axel. He finished eighth (149.80), but with a total score of 245.57, managed to stay on the podium for third place.

“It was a bit of a challenging competition, but I was able to be aggressive and push towards the end,” said Tomono. “Although there were some regrets, it was a bit frustrating, but I’m glad I never gave up. There was definitely pressure being the last skater, but I was trying to think of it as a comeback for myself. I have had many similar past experiences, and I thought this would be the day that I would bring out a different result. I was kind of aiming to win, and I was very conscious about that, so I did feel a bit of difficulty, but I still enjoyed myself.”

Jason Brown

USA’s Jason Brown delivered a high-energy routine to “Reel Around the Sun” from Riverdance which featured exceptional level-four footwork and two level-four spins. The opening triple flip was solid, but he underrotated a triple Axel and stepped out of the back end of a triple Lutz-triple toe. He scored 82.69 points going into the free skate.

“Every time I go out onto the ice, I know that to be up there with the best I have to be as perfect and as clean as possible,” said Brown. “So those marks are frustrating when those ‘q’s or those underrotations add up. They hit me pretty hard. That said. it makes me that much more determined to get back to work and make sure the next time out it’s that much cleaner and that much stronger.”

The two-time Four Continents medalist gave a stirring free skate to “Say Something” performed by Jacob Banks, displaying excellent skating skills throughout. His opening triple Axel was landed on the quarter (in combination with a double toe), but the solo triple Axel was clean. He doubled a Salchow before turning out the front end of a triple Lutz-double toe and also underrotated and turned out a triple flip. However, the triple flip-double Axel-double Axel sequence was solid, and he earned high GOEs for his superb spins and footwork. Brown finished third in the free skate and moved up one spot to fourth overall (156.90/239.59).

“I’m proud of my grit, I’m proud of the tenacity of the program,” said Brown. “It’s never great when it starts strong and fizzles a bit. That said, I never gave up. I kept pushing through and it was another opportunity to really get the pacing of the program, understand it, get it out in a different venue, in a bigger rink. I’m really looking forward to giving it another go next week.”

He will compete next week at Finlandia Trophy.

Daniel Grassl of Italy, who stood in fourth after the short program, placed sixth in the free skate and fifth overall (236.44).

Vladimir Litvintsev of Azerbaijan placed fourth in the free skate, moving up from seventh to sixth place overall (231.84).

Nikolaj Memola of Italy finished seventh overall (231.02), followed by Tatsuya Tsuboi of Japan (228.03).

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Paula Slater

Founder of Golden Skate in 1999, Paula has followed the sport of figure skating for over four decades. A retired U.S. Army veteran, she takes joy in promoting the sport worldwide, covering events, interviewing skaters, and providing resources. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and in her free time, enjoys reading, walking her dogs, painting, and consuming large quantities of coffee.