Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron win European ice dance title ahead of Olympics
Canadian-born skater, French partner post highest total score by anyone this season
France's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won the ice dance at the European figure skating championships in Sheffield, England on Saturday after the buildup was overshadowed by a dispute between Cizeron and his former dance partner.
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry, who's from Montreal and previously represented Canada but became a French citizen in November, scored 135.50 points for their free skate to music from the movie The Whale for a total 222.43.
That's the highest total score in ice dance by anyone this season and underlined their status as challengers to American pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates for the gold medal at next month's Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.
"It was a really important step for us, the first European championships for us," said Cizeron, who was in his first season with Fournier Beaudry. "It's setting a really important base for us to keep getting better."
Cizeron won the Olympic gold medal in 2022 with Gabriella Papadakis, who has published a book describing him as controlling and their partnership as unequal.
Cizeron has contested her claims and called the comments part of a "smear campaign." Papadakis said on Friday she lost a commentary role with NBC for the Winter Olympics.
The experienced Italian pair of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, 14 years on from their European championship debut in Sheffield, took silver with 210.34. The Italians overtook home favourites Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Britain, who were second after the rhythm dance but finished third overall on 209.51.
