Tarasova and Morozov claim Grand Prix crown

The duo had finished second at the Trophee de France last month and third at the Skate America in October, but led here following the short program.

And they were in no mood to relinquish top spot as they scored 135.25 upon their return to the French ice to take gold with a total of 213.85, with Xiaoyu Yu and Hao Zhang of China in second and Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford third.

Friday saw the ladies' event get underway with Russian Evgenia Medvedeva top scoring in the short program with a score of 79.21.

Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond is second on 75.54, while Satoko Miyahara is third.

The ice dance also began with Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir leading the way, ahead of Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani and Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France.