French ice dancers Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry, who were crowned Olympic champions last month in Milan, completed their first season together by winning the world title in ice dance on Saturday in Prague.
Dressed in blue, the French duo impressed the audience and judges with a pure and poetic free program, earning them 138.07 points, just shy of the world record. With a total of 230.81 points from their two performances, they surpassed Canadian duo Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier by over 20 points.
Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik unexpectedly took home the bronze with 209.20 points, only 22/100 ahead of British pair Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson.
Skating to the soundtrack of “The Whale,” Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry performed masterfully, captivating the Prague O2 Arena in a moment of impressive silence.
“This is one of those moments that skaters hope to experience in their career. Having a full stadium, feeling their energy. We feel the moment slipping through our fingers a bit,” described Cizeron. “We try to be clear-headed enough in the moment to enjoy it. I think we really succeeded tonight. We were a bit more relaxed than usual and we had a lot of fun dancing.”
– “Ending on a high note” –
The French pair were already in first place after the rhythm dance performed on Friday to Madonna’s “Vogue.” They took to the ice as heavy favorites, especially with their main rivals, American duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, three-time reigning world champions and runners-up in Milan, absent.
Together for just over a year, they capped off their first season together with a world championship title, after already winning the European title in January and, most notably, the Olympic gold last month; an exceptional year for the couple. “I think we hoped for it. But achieving it is another thing. And finishing on such a high note is even more satisfying,” reacted Laurence Fournier Beaudry.
Cizeron, 31, who is also the Olympic champion from 2022, now holds his sixth world title in a career that includes five titles with his former partner Gabriella Papadakis.
For Laurence Fournier Beaudry, this marks her first world medal at the age of 33.
The pair surprised many by announcing their collaboration in early 2025 when they both found themselves without partners.
– “With our hearts” –
For these World Championships, held a month after the Olympics, they felt much less pressure, ready to offer a mesmerizing performance.
“We really skated with our hearts. It was a very good performance. I think we were very relaxed. Well, very relaxed… let’s not exaggerate. But we had just the right amount of pressure in the right place,” assessed Cizeron.
Another highlight of the day came in the late afternoon with American Ilia Malinin’s victory in the men’s category, his third title of his career.
The 21-year-old skater redeemed himself brilliantly a month after his incredible failure at the Milan Cortina Olympics, where he only placed 8th.
Dressed in a black sequined costume, Malinin scored 329.40 points with an intense program featuring five quadruple jumps. He surpassed Japanese skater Yuma Kagiyama by over 22 points, while another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, took the bronze.
French skater Adam Siao Him Fa, second after the short program and in contention for a medal, dropped to fifth place after a fall and several errors.
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