With new record rhythm dance score, Papadakis/Cizeron on cusp of fifth title at World Championships

Even before they skated on Friday (25 March), Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron had won the day.

Plastered onto World Figure Skating Championships posters, their images splashed on the sides of event water bottles and French fans queueing to see them in Montpellier, it was a golden homecoming for the newly-crowned Olympic ice dance champions from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

And then they took to the ice.

Papadakis/Cizeron didn't disappoint those wanting fans - or themselves - in fact, setting a new world record score in the rhythm dance, their 92.73 nearly two points above the record they set last month in Beijing (90.89).

They lead the ice dance event heading into Saturday's (26 March) free dance, with Montreal-based training mates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S. in second at 89.72 and another American team, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, in third place, scoring 87.51.

Each of the top three teams achieved career-best scores in the segment.

Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri sit fourth with a score of 84.22, while Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, the 2021 world bronze medallists, are fifth at 80.79.

Papadakis and Cizeron are aiming to become the first ice dance team to win five world championship titles in nearly 50 years.

"It's very special that this takes place in France after the Olympics," Papadakis said after their performance. "It's like the alignment of the stars. ... We tried to achieve this level today and the crowd pushed us, the public did. It was magic. It was even better than the Olympic Games."

MORE: Follow all the action from Montpellier - Check out our live blog

Takahashi feels he 'finally belongs'

Last month, the International Skating Union announced that "no skaters belonging to the ISU Members in Russia and Belarus shall be invited or allowed to participate in international ice skating competitions," including the world championships.

That means Olympic silver medallists Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov will not be in attendance, nor will Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin (who placed fifth). Hubbell/Donohue won bronze last month in Beijing, while Chock/Bates came in fourth.

In Montpellier, the top eight rounded out with: Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz of Spain (79.40) in sixth; Great Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (78.89) in seventh; and Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen of Canada (78.29) in eighth.

Japan's Muramoto Kana and Takahashi Daisuke scored a 67.77 to finish 15th. Takahashi is a former world champion singles skater and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic bronze medallist. He and Muramoto are making their debut as a duo at Worlds.

Takahashi said after their skate that they felt "finally belonged" among the top ice dance teams in the world.

Cizeron: 'It wasn't easy'

Just five weeks ago the dancers were in Beijing at the Games, always a unique challenge in the Olympic season: To keep their high level for the upcoming World Championships.

"It wasn't easy to go back to training after the Olympics," Cizeron admitted. "It was in some part of our mind that the Worlds was coming up, [but] the main focus had been the Olympics. We [top three teams] train together, all of us, so the friendship, energy, passion and fun... it helped. It's easy to remember why we train. But it's a challenge for us: It's either the end of a season or the new chapter of a career."

Papadakis/Cizeron wowed from the start of their John Legend medley rhythm dance, which incorporates the waacking dance style. They both received Level 4s on their twizzle sequence, and received positive GOEs (Grades of Execution) throughout, tacking up a nearly three-point lead on the technical mark itself.

Hubbell and Donohue, who won bronze in Beijing and are three-time world medallists, have announced that this will be their final season skating.

"We are very pleased with our performance today," Hubbell said. "This is our last World Championships - our first was in Nice and our last in Montpellier, so it's fitting.

She added with a smile: "My goal for tomorrow is to not cry before or during the performance." 

While the two American teams have traded which finishes above the other throughout their careers, Chock/Bates said they were pleased with how "free" they skated on Friday: "We let loose and were free in our performance. We want to have more of the same tomorrow." 

The top 10 was completed by Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker (76.56) and Lithuania's Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius (74.06).