Figure skater Chan bids to seal GP final berth in Paris

World champion Patrick Chan will be bidding to seal his berth in the elite ISU Grand Prix figure skating final in his native Canada next month at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris-Bercy starting Friday. Chan was far from his record-breaking best in his first Grand Prix outing in Skate Canada last month, needing a come-from-behind victory in the free skate to seal gold after trailing in the short programme. So the 20-year-old will need to lift his game and his jumps if he wants to add to his Paris titles in 2007 and 2008, and lay the groundwork for his Grand Prix title defence in Quebec City from December 8-11. His leading rivals should be Czech skater Michal Brezina who opened his season with a win at Skate America, along with Japan's Nobunari Oda, runner-up in the Cup of China in Shanghai. Brezina, 21, and Oda, 24, will also be looking for a berth in the Grand Prix final, as the six-leg series reaches the penultimate stage. Skaters compete in at least two events with the top six in each discipline - men, women, pairs and ice dancing - qualifying for the final. France's men's hopes lie with European champion Florent Amodio after Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion, withdrew injured. Sparks should fly in the ladies event which includes three Grand Prix winners this season - Italy's Carolina Kostner, American Alissa Czisny and rising Russian star Elizaveta Tuktamisheva. Kostner, 24, is already assured of her ticket to Quebec City after following up her runner-up spot in Skate America by winning the Cup of China. But she has a score to settle with 2010 Grand Prix winner Czisny, 24, who won Skate America ahead of the world bronze medallist by just 13-hundredths of a point. Tuktamisheva, 14, claimed her first title at Skate Canada, as last year's world junior silver-medallist competes in her first senior season. In ice dancing, Olympic ice dancer champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won gold in their first outing this season in Skate Canada and are looking for their second Paris title after 2009. Virtue and Moir, world runners-up last season, are the top-rated dancers at the event but should be tested by France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, winners here last year. Russia's Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, the world silver medallists, are favourites in the pairs after winning Skate America. Short programmes will be staged Friday with free skate finals Saturday.