Olympic Ice Dancing Results 2022: France's Papadakis, Cizeron Win Free Dance Gold
Silver has turned into gold as France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, who finished as the runner-up in the 2018 Winter Olympics' ice-dancing competition, dominated en route to climbing to the top of the podium at the 2022 Beijing Games.
The pair entered the free skate in first place after posting a world-record score of 90.83 in the rhythm dance. They finished the free skate in first place after posting a world-record overall score of 226.98.
Russia's Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov took silver, while the United States' Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue finished third. They edged out a pair of fellow Americans in Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
The entire quartet did quite well to finish out the day, with figure skating analyst Jackie Wong praising all four:
Here's a look at the top four pairs in this year's competition alongside notes on each pairing.
Ice Dance: Final Results
1. Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron (FRA): 226.98 (90.83 Rhythm Dance, 136.15 Free Skate)
2. Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov (ROC): 220.51 (88.85 Rhythm, 131.66 Free)
3. Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue (USA): 218.02 (87.14 Rhythm, 130.89 Free)
4. Madison Chock / Evan Bates (USA): 214.77 (84.14 Rhythm, 130.63 Free)
Full results via Olympics.com.
Notes
The French pair frankly left no doubt about who was winning this competition, as Robert Samuels of the Washington Post noted.
The duo had previously set the world record for an overall ice-dancing score after posting 226.96 in last year's French championships. They topped that mark by two-hundredths of a point this time around.
The New York Times raved about their performance:
The French pairing's masterpiece shouldn't overshadow how well their competitors did in their own right.
Sinitsina and Katsalapov, the reigning world champions, had a strong skate en route to clearing the Americans for silver.
Katsalapov got the silver even though he'll need back surgery later this year, per Nick McCarvel of olympics.com:
It was an Olympic sendoff for Hubbell and Donohue, whose careers are winding down in what will mark their final season. Wong gave them their due credit.
Hubbell and Donohue finished fourth in the ice dance in the 2018 Olympics, but the duo guaranteed themselves the bronze this time around after a phenomenal free dance.
Chock and Bates put up a medal-worthy performance, but the bottom line is the three teams ahead of them were simply fantastic.
They left it all out on the ice but came up just short:
Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen, who took first in men's figure skating this year, cheered on Chock and Bates following their clutch skate:
Overall, the final four pairings were exceptional, as Maggie Hendricks of Bally Sports wrote.
In the end, Papadakis and Cizeron dazzled and dominated on their path to gold.
