GRENOBLE, France (AP) — Without attempting a quad jump, Jason Brown built a solid lead at the French round of the Grand Prix figure skating series on Friday.
The American skater scored 96.41 points, rewarded for his crisp technique and flowing ease in landing four triple jumps at the Internationaux de France.
His rivals, meanwhile, were penalized for failing to cleanly execute more difficult quads.
Alexander Samarin of Russia goes into the free skate on Saturday trailing Brown by nearly six points. He fluffed the landing of his opening quad lutz but quickly recovered and scored 90.86.
World champion Nathan Chen fell on his second jump, a quad flip, and finished in third place with 86.94 points.
The sixth and last event of the Grand Prix series offers skaters a final chance to qualify for next month's final in Vancouver.
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