Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron set new rhythm dance world record en route to lead in ice dance

Saturday nights are meant for dancing.

Even at the Olympics, as the the ice dance kicked off tonight (12 February) with the rhythm dance inside the Capital Indoor Stadium at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, with four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France showing exactly how it's done by setting a new world record score of 90.83 points.

They're around two points clear of reigning world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the ROC, who bettered their own personal best by just over a tenth of a point, scoring 88.85, but couldn't match the French duo's brilliance.

Papadakis and Cizeron were Olympic silver medallists in 2018 and are looking to go one step up on the podium here in Beijing.

Citing limited training conditions and difficulty traveling, Papadakis and Cizeron scaled back their competition schedule since the outset of the global pandemic. They did, however, win both their Grand Prix events this season - while also registering the highest score of any team, a 221.05 at the French Grand Prix.

Speaking to Olympics.com in the mixed zone, Cizeron said: "I think it wasn't perfect, but it was a really good moment for us on the ice. It's been a long time since we've given that much pleasure while skating, and that was our goal – to just live in the moment and have a great experience.

"Four years ago [when the duo had a costume issue and finished second], it was kind of a nightmare, and here it was very enjoyable."

Papadakis added: "The past four years, we've been focusing on [this] event, basically, even though we had other competitions, all the decisions that we did was for this event, so it was definitely in our mind and something to juggle, but it's what sport is especially at this level, it's a lot of mental gymnastics and mental strength to work on and it's part of the journey."

Sinitsina/Katsalapov won at Europeans last month, however, the French did not compete. This was their first head-to-head competition since the 2020 European Championships in January 2020.

For his part, Katsalapov said: "We are extremely happy about today's skating, it was clean, confident, inspired. Both we and our coaches are completely satisfied. We can say that most likely this is the best skate of the season.

"We missed [Papadakis and Cizeron] very much," Katsalapov added. "It's a pleasure to watch them, it's true, it's sincere."

However, he insisted that the French team did not affect their own skating.

"There is so much work going on in our heads to skate well on our own that there is simply no time, energy and wish to think about rivals, think about points. We are focused only on ourselves," he added.

Three-time U.S. national championship winners Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were fourth at PyeongChang, but look well-placed to improve on that after netting a new personal best of their own on 87.13 points to place third after the rhythm dance.

Reigning American champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates are fourth after Chock slipped – but stayed upright – when her blade caught in the ice.

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of the ROC are fifth; Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, the reigning world bronze medallists, lie in sixth; and Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy sit in seventh after the rhythm dance.

What's to come: Free dance, how to watch

While the rhythm dance marked the first time skating had been held in the evening this Olympics, the free dance is set to move back to the morning:

Monday, 14 February - 0915 local - Ice dance - free dance

Here's how you can catch all the action - figure skating and beyond - during Beijing 2022.