PARIS -- American skater Sasha Cohen got off to a shaky start Friday in her quest for a second Grand Prix victory.

The 18-year-old completed a solid triple lutz-double toe loop jump during the short program at the Lalique Trophy, but then fell on a much easier double axel. She is in second after the short program behind Japan's Yoshie Onda. Sarah Meier of Switzerland is third.

"It wasn't the performance I was hoping for,'' Cohen said. "It was a really silly mistake. I haven't missed any axels in a long time.''

Cohen, known for her tantalizing spins and beautiful spirals, won Skate Canada in October. She finished fourth at the Olympics in February.

Onda, who won last weekend's Nations Cup in Germany, skated a fluid, balletic program that included a clean, triple-double combination jump.

Japanese prodigy Yukari Nakano attempted a triple axel, only to fall out of the jump on the landing. Nakano is one of only four women ever to complete the jump in international competition.

Brian Joubert leads after the short program, which drew laughter when a pigeon flew into the arena while China's Min Zhang was finishing his program. Min almost skated into the bird after it landed on the ice. He is third behind Takeshi Honda of Japan.

Joubert, Min and Honda were the only skaters to complete the quadruple toe loop, a difficult jump that requires four rotations in the air.

In ice dancing, Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine lead after the original dance. Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States are second, and Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France are third.

In pairs, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia are first, Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis of France are second, and Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang of China are third.

Lalique is the first major skating event in France since the judging scandal at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

French skating chief Didier Gailhaguet and French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne each drew three-year bans from ISU meets for their role in the pairs scandal. The ISU said it had evidence Gailhaguet pressured Le Gougne to vote for the Russian couple that won the gold medal. Duplicate gold medals were awarded to the Canadian pair after the scandal broke.