Since they announced they were taking a break, in 2022, the announcement was expected: when Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, at the top of ice dancing for around ten years, were going to retire? The news was transmitted this Tuesday, December 3, via a press release. “We couldn’t have asked for a better career. […] It is with immense gratitude that we decide to turn the page. A huge thank you to our public for the pleasure shared with us on the ice. We take away wonderful memories”wrote the two skaters.
Five-time world and European champions, Olympic champions in 2022, Gabriella Papadis, 29, and Guillaume Cizeron, 30, have won everything. A look back at four highlights of their career.
2015, where it all begins
Associated since the ages of eight and nine, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron won their first European title and their first world title in the same year: in 2015.
Champions of France for the first time at the end of 2014, they took part in the European Championships in Stockholm (Sweden) at the end of January. The couple dominated the short program, then the free with a total of 179.97 points and ahead of the Italian title holders Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. On March 27, 2015, in Shanghai (China), the duo was crowned world ice dance champions, thanks to their performance during the free program to the adagio from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. It is the beginning of a long domination.
2018: the disillusionment of Pyeongchang
In 2018, both skaters are at the top of their game: they continue to improve their own world record (203.16 points overall) and have won everything. They have just been crowned European champions for the third time. When they land in Pyeongchang, for the Olympic Games, they are more favorites than ever.
But on Korean ice, everything does not go as planned. Just ten seconds into their short program, to an Ed Sheeran medley, the neckline of Gabriella Papadakis' dress comes unhooked, the top of her outfit becoming looser. If it is invisible to the eyes of viewers, this costume problem distracts the two skaters, who lose synchronization, particularly on the series of twizzles. The sentence is cruel: the duo finishes 2e of the short program (81.93 points against 83.67 points for the Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir) and, despite a world record in the free, he will not be able to catch up (205.28 points against 206.07 ).
The Tricolores, which everyone saw in gold, are adorned with silver. From then on, their quest for Olympic gold will guide their every step on the ice.
2022: Olympic consecration
Four years later, both skaters returned to the Beijing Olympics. This time, nothing will stop them. The couple, already five-time European champions, four-time world champions, only dream of this: winning this Olympic title, the only one missing from their record, the one that was already promised to them in 2018.
In the ice rink, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron ward off bad luck. After a mastered rhythmic dance (90.83 points), they fly through the free dance, each time with a new world record (226.98 points) and this time… gold around their necks. Leaving far, far away the competition and their old demons from Pyeongchang.
This February 14, on the ice, there was only them and their immense talent. “I held back a little from screaming, enjoyed by Guillaume Cizeron at the time. We've been dreaming of this for four years, or more. » “This medal carries much more weight than it did four years ago. It’s the symbol of everything we’ve been through during these four years, of the work we’ve done, of our entire career.”completed his partner.
READ ALSO. Olympic figure skating. Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron: “Infallible precision”
2022, one last title and then it's gone
In March 2022, the circle was already complete for the two French people. But they wanted to finish, at home, for the world championships. It will be their last and it will be the final coronation of their immense career. In Montpellier, in front of an audience committed to their cause, the duo released two more marvelous programs, with two world records.
The public doesn't know it yet, but they are witnessing the final dance steps of such a unique duo.
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