By Chang-Ran Kim and Krystal Hu
BEIJING (Reuters) – Four years after a costume malfunction cost them the ice dance title in Pyeongchang, French duo Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron made a stylish return to the Winter Olympics with a world record score in the rhythm dance on Saturday.
Wearing matching burgundy outfits and dancing to a medley of John Legend tunes including ‘Made to Love’, the French pair delighted those in attendance with a dynamic routine that included a number of crowd-pleasing lifts and synchronised twizzles, drawing an enthusiastic reception from an otherwise muted crowd.
The duo scored 90.83 – a 0.80 improvement on their own previous record mark set in 2019 – to advance into Monday’s free dance. They will be attempting to become the first French ice dancers to win the Olympic title since Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat struck gold in 2002.
Their beat closest rivals, Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, by 1.98 points, while Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States finished third with 87.13.
The night provided a welcome respite from the doping scandal that has been rocking the Games after the stunning revelation that 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva had tested positive for a banned heart drug during her national championships last December.
Her future at the Beijing Games and a gold for the Russian Olympic Committee in the team event now hangs in the balance amid a global outcry over Moscow’s doping history.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will rule on her fate on Monday.
Valieva trained at a practice rink on Saturday and all eyes were on her before the ice dance took over at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
The crowd warmed up with more cheers and applause as the evening progressed and especially when China’s Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu stepped up.
But it was Papadakis and Cizeron who turned the ice into fire with a superb routine.
In Pyeongchang, the clasp holding Papadakis’s halter-neck dress came undone behind her neck at the start of their short dance and she could be seen trying to stop the outfit slipping off during the rest of the programme.
The French pair had recovered in style for the free dance to claim the silver medal behind Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
Papadakis had described the event as her ‘worst nightmare’ but the duo are now over the incident and seem ready to conquer Beijing after their self-imposed hiatus to minimise the risks of contracting COVID-19.
(Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
