The Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris, France opened Friday with the Men's, Pairs, Ladies Short Programs and the Short Dance. The Trophee Bompard is the fifth of six events in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series.

Patrick Chan (CAN) skates to lead
Patrick Chan of Canada grabbed the lead in the Men's Short Program with China's Nan Song and Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic following in second and third.
Performing to Take Five, Chan landed a triple Axel and triple Lutz-triple toe combination but fell on an underrotated quadruple toeloop. The World Champion scored 84.16 points, a new seasons best. For me this was a positive achievement, because I did better than I did at Skate Canada and that was my goal. At Skate Canada I did a better quad, but I did a double Axel instead of a triple. Obviously I did a bad quad which happens sometimes, but I was proud of myself to go and get up and gather myself and go into the triple Axel and do one of the best triple Axels that I've done, Chan said.
Song's routine to Requiem for a Dream included a quadruple-triple toeloop combination, a triple Axel and a shaky triple Lutz. The 2010 World Junior silver medallist picked up up a new seasons best of 76.53 points. Today's performance went better than at the Cup of China. I think the elements were smoother and it felt better today, the 21-year-old explained.
Brezina opened his program to Japanese Kodo drums with a triple Axel and also hit the triple Lutz, but did only a triple flip-double toe combination. The Czech skater earned 74.32 points. It was a little bit embarassing. I usually don't have problems with the triple flip combination. I just want to forget it and do it tomorrow, Brezina commented.

Adam Rippon (USA) came fourth at 72.96 points and Florent Amodio (FRA) placed fifth with 71.42 points.

Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (RUS) win Pairs Short Program
Russia's Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov captured the Pairs Short Program. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford of Canada finished second and Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov of Russia came third.
Volosozhar/Trankov opened their routine to Bring Me Back to Life by Evanescence with a high triple twist but she fell on the landing. The reigning World silver medallists recovered instantly to land a side by side toeloop and picked up a level four for the lift, footwork and pair spin. The couple from Moscow scored 63.69 points. The twist is our favorite element and we do it very well usually but today something happened. We are happy that after this we were strong and did the triple toe, Trankov commented.
Duhamel/Radford delivered a solid program to Concierto de Aranjuez that was highlighted by a triple twist, a triple Salchow and throw triple flip. The Canadians earned 61.06 points. Skate Canada was a great start and we were in the same position there as we are right now. So we're concentrating now on taking our skating forward and doing well tomorrow, Radford said.
Performing to Tosca, Bazarova/Larionov completed a triple toeloop, a triple twist and difficult lift, but she missed the throw triple flip. The Russians collected 59.06 points. Today I made an unfortunate mistake. I threw Vera too powerfully, she didn't expect it and as a result there was a fall, Larionov explained.

Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig (USA) are sitting in fourth with 57.69 points and Jessica Dube/ Sebastien Wolfe (CAN) came fifth (53.24 points).

Elizaveta Tuktamisheva (RUS) lead Ladies
Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamisheva leads the Ladies after the Short Program with Carolina Kostner of Italy and Alissa Czisny (USA) finishing second and third.
Tuktamisheva's Tango program featured a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination, a triple loop and double Axel as well as two level-four spins. The World Junior silver medallist posted a new seasons best of 62.04 points. I skated very well today. I did all my jumps and I tried to skate the best I could. Maybe I was more confident than at Skate Canada, the 14-year-old said.
Kostner opened her program to the Allegretto from Dmitri Shostakovitch's Trio No. 2 with a solid triple toe-triple toe combination, but the triple loop was wobbly and she fell at the beginning of the step sequence. The Italian produced also a double Axel and two spins merited a level four. The three-time European Champion scored 59.70 points. I feel a little tiredness in my legs. Always sleeping in different beds gets to my concentration, admitted Kostner. I got back to reality when I tripped over my toe. I am satisfied with the technical part of my skate but I could have done better steps, she told the press.
Czisny completed a double Axel and earned a level four for her three spins, but struggled with her triple Lutz and the triple loop-double toe. The Grand Prix Final Champion received 57.25 points. I'm not so happy with what I did but I am still happy with the performance after the jumps, Czisny commented.

Kanako Murakami (JPN) is not far behind in fourth place at 55.77 points, followed by Viktoria Helgesson (SWE) with 54.16 points.

Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) take Short Dance
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada took the Short Dance ahead of France's Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte of Italy finished third.
Virtue/Moir's performance to Samba and Rhumba included fast twizzles and a two smooth Rhumba sequences. The Olympic Champions picked up a level four for the twizzles and the lift to score 71.18 points. Tessa and I felt like we were ready to go for it tonight. We felt that we made a couple of mistakes, but I think they were just mistakes that Tessa and I would notice between each other and when we got back to the boards Marina (Zueva, coach) was happy. Since Skate Canada we tried to build the program a bit more. I think we were successful at doing that, it's been a lot stronger in training, Moir noted.
Pechalat/Bourzat's Samba dance was highlighted by a curve lift and intricate footwork. The European Champions earned a seasons best of 66.52 points. We are happy with the performance tonight. It is way better since at Skate America. We had a hard time there, and we lost a lot of practice (time), but we get back on track. We still have to improve on this Short Dance, but it was a good performance tonight, Bourzat explained.
Cappellini/Lanotte were the only couple to get a level four for both parts of the Rhumba. The Italians achieved a new seasons best with 64.62 points. We were already happy with our performance at Skate Canada. So tonight it was a nice confirmation that our program is very well received. We also feel like we skated nice and clean. We still can do better. We try to make stronger in practice, Cappellini pointed out.

Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) placed fourth with 58.17 points and Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) are currently ranked fifth (52.01 points).

The Trophee Bompard continues Saturday with the Men's , Ladies, Pairs Free Skating and the Free Dance. For full results please see www.isu.org .