Five things to know about the on-ice success of four-time world champion ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron

At times, they've seemed unstoppable.

Indeed, this season, it has been very hard to stop Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, the ice dancing duo that represents France in figure skating. They hope to carry that momentum into their second Olympic appearance at the Winter Games Beijing 2022.

Did you know they met as kids? And what about the milestones they have reached during their career? Olympics.com introduces you to their titles, their disappointments and their life outside the sport in five facts.

January 2015: Their first major title

Gabriella and Guillaume have known each other since they were kids in France, and first skated under Gabby's mother, Catherine. They started impressing on the junior scene before making their debut at the senior level during the 2013-14 season.

After moving to Canada to train, they won both their Grand Prix assignments to open the new Olympic quad in late 2014 finished third at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona in December 2014.

One month later, in January 2015, they reached the top of their discipline: With a score of 179.97 points, they were crowned European champions ahead of Italian world champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, as well as Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.

World champions and Olympic medal aspirations

They didn’t wait long to confirm their domination of the discipline. In March 2015, they added a world title to their first European crown they had earned less than two months earlier. In Shanghai, they scored 184.28 points, which was almost three more points than American dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who finished in second place.

Before the Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018, the titles were flying in for the French duo. They won their first Grand Prix Final in 2017 and now had three European titles and two world triumphs to their name (2015 and 2016).

But the time period also marked the return of 2010 Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada, who joined their training base in Montreal.

A silver medal at PyeongChang 2018

Although Gabby and Guillaume were favourited alongside Virtue/Moir at the Gangneung Ice Arena, they had to settle for the silver medal behind Olympic Virtue/Moir, who won the ice dance as well as helping Canada to team gold earlier in the Games.

Disaster struck along the way, however, as the neck of Papadakis' dress came unhooked to open the rhythm dance, just second into the program. They received 81.93 points, but the writing was on the wall: Virtue/Moir set a new world record with a 83.67-point rhythm dance, heading into the free in first.

Papadakis/Cizeron delivered a beautiful free program that led to a world record, too (123.25 points), but it wasn’t enough to push the Canadian dancers to second place.

With 206.07 points, Virtue/Moir became Olympic champions ahead of Gabriella and Guillaume’s 205.28 points. The French were clearly disappointed, but the runner-up finish pushed them to want to come back even stronger.

More titles and a break

After the 2018 Games, the team continued its strong international presence.

They were crowned European champions another two times and created history, as no other duo had managed five European titles in a row before them. British dancer Courtney Jones, from 1957 and 1961, had done it but had changed partners in 1959.

They won two more world titles before finishing second at the Euros in 2020, behind Russian dancers Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, just weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown.

Between January 2020 and October 2021, the four-time world champions would not appear in any international competition until Finlandia Trophy to kick off their Olympic season, and end a 20-month hiatus.

“We went through different emotion stages during this period of time and we needed to renew our goals to create a new dynamic," Papadakis said in January 2021.

Cizeron took advantage of their break to publish a book entitled Ma plus belle victoire (My Greatest Win), in which he opened up for the first time as to how accepting his homosexuality allowed him to get to a higher level in his sport.

A strong return to competitive ice

That break, nearly two years in total, seemed to have been beneficial and allowed the team to come back even stronger since their return.

This season, they have stepped on the highest step of the podium in every national and international competition they performed in:

• French Masters: 1st - 231.10 points (domestic event)
• Finlandia Trophy: 1st - 217.54 points (9.23 points ahead of Chock/Bates)
• Gran Premio d’Italia: 1st - 220.06 points (12.16 points ahead of Hubbell/Donohue)
• Internationaux de France: 1st - 221.25 points (18.09 ahead of Gilles/Poirier)
• French Championships: 1st - 226.96 points (domestic event)

They also qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Osaka, Japan, but the event was eventually cancelled due to the surge of the omicron variant.

Papadakis and Cizeron withdrew from the 2022 European Championships to be able to stay in their training bubble ahead of their primary goal this season: The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

The ice dance event is set for 12 and 14 February, and the duo will be the favourite to win the gold that eluded them four years ago.