SHEFFIELD, England, Jan 16 : Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron stormed to the top of the ice dance leaderboard at the European Figure Skating Championships on Friday, a result that underscored the promise of their fast-track partnership ahead of the Olympics.
Skating to Vogue by Madonna, the French duo earned 86.93 points in the rhythm dance – just shy of their second-placed score at last month’s Grand Prix Final – with an electric performance that drew the crowd to its feet.
It was a promising skate three weeks from the Milano Cortina Olympics, where they are expected to challenge Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates for gold, and in just their fourth international competition together since they teamed up in March.
“I feel like every time (we compete) is a new experience,” said Cizeron. “And it had been a few years since I had been to Europeans. Our focus today was just to get in our bubble and enjoy every moment of this together. And we succeeded doing that.”
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were second with 85.47 points, bringing the crowd to its feet with their Spice Girls programme. Three-times defending European champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy were third (84.48).
Cizeron, the reigning Olympic champion and five-times world champion with previous partner Gabriella Papadakis, made headlines earlier this week when he accused Papadakis of spreading false information about him in a “smear campaign.”
Papadakis alleged in her book “So as not to Disappear”, released on Thursday, that she was under Cizeron’s “control” throughout their career.
In a statement earlier this week he said he had “shown deep respect” for Papadakis throughout their career together. He added that his lawyers had been instructed to demand an immediate halt to what he called defamatory claims.
French media reported that Papadakis had been removed from her commentary role for NBC Sports at the Olympics due to a conflict of interest.
Fournier Beaudry previously competed for Canada with Nikolaj Sorensen, but obtained her French citizenship in November to pave the way for Olympic eligibility.
She competed with a bandaged knee, having suffered a gash when she fell in free dance at the Grand Prix Final.
“My knee is very good. It’s still recovering a little bit from the Final but it’s going fine,” she said.
Fear and Gibson, whose bronze at last year’s world championships was the first podium finish for Britain since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean more than 40 years earlier, soaked up the cheers from the home crowd.
“I was planning for (pressure) coming here; will it feel like a lot of pressure and more overwhelming?” said Fear, who wore a Union Jack dress, her hair in Baby Spice buns.
“It was more just like, Okay, what are you nervous about? You have all these people that are here to support and you’re representing them. That’s a huge dream come true.”
The women’s free programme is scheduled for Friday evening.
