French Ice Dance Duo Stuns Reigning Champions for Olympic Gold in Milan
In a stunning upset at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the new French ice dance partnership of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron captured the gold medal on Wednesday night, defeating the dominant American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates who had reigned supreme for the past four years.
Perfect Performance Under Pressure
The French duo faced immense pressure after Chock and Bates delivered a season-best performance as three-time reigning world champions. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron responded with near-perfect execution, earning a season-best score of 225.82 points to edge out the Americans' 224.39. This victory made Cizeron the first skater in Olympic history to win back-to-back ice dance gold medals with different partners, having previously triumphed with Gabriella Papadakis in 2022.
The bronze medal went to Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who scored 217.74 points with an emotionally charged free skate that separated them from the Italian team of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri and the British duo of Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson.
Controversial Path to Victory
The French champions arrived in Milan surrounded by controversy involving their former partners. Just one year earlier, Fournier Beaudry faced uncertainty about competing this season after Skate Canada banned her partner and longtime boyfriend, Nikolaj Sorensen, amid allegations of sexual maltreatment. Although she maintained his innocence and the suspension was overturned on jurisdictional grounds in June, the case remains pending.
Cizeron had stepped away from competition after his 2022 Olympic victory with Papadakis but found the opportunity to return with Fournier Beaudry irresistible. The new partnership had won every event they entered this season except the Grand Prix Final, where they placed second to Chock and Bates in their only previous head-to-head meeting.
Their journey was further complicated when Papadakis published a memoir accusing Cizeron of being demanding, controlling, and manipulative during their partnership—allegations he dismissed as a smear campaign.
Unshaken Focus Amidst Distractions
Despite these distractions, the French team demonstrated remarkable focus throughout the competition. They narrowly edged Chock and Bates in Monday's rhythm dance and maintained their composure during Wednesday's decisive free skate.
The American duo had delivered what appeared to be a flawless performance minutes earlier, skating to an instrumental version of "Paint it Black" from the dystopian sci-fi series "Westworld." Their fifteen years of partnership showed in perfect harmony, with flamenco-styled choreography that had the audience clapping along enthusiastically.
For Chock and Bates—two-time Olympic gold medalists in the team event who had finished a frustrating fourth in individual ice dance at the Beijing Games—this represented their best chance at the individual medal that had long eluded them.
French Resilience Secures Victory
When Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron took the ice, they briefly stumbled on their twizzles, potentially giving the Americans an opening. However, they quickly recovered and delivered a mesmerizing performance set to the soundtrack from "The Whale," moving with refined elegance that evoked underwater grace.
As the winning score was announced, Chock and Bates joined the crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in applauding their rivals, demonstrating sportsmanship after the intense competition.
The victory marks a significant achievement for the French ice dance program and establishes Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron as the new standard-bearers in the discipline, overcoming both athletic and personal challenges to claim Olympic glory.
