At the Italian Grand Prix, third of the six stages of the prestigious Grand Prix circuit, the French duo, holder of the best score of the season in rhythmic dance since the day before, signed those of the free dance and the total.
Papadakis and Cizeron, both 26, totaled 220.06 points, around six and a half points off their personal best as of November 2019. But more than twelve points ahead of 2021 vice world champions Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (207.90), second, and nearly eighteen ahead of Russians Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin (202.18), third.
At the end of their patinated free dance on Gabriel Fauré's Elegie played on cello and piano - with a new costume, spangled golden dress for her, red top for him - they were rewarded with 132.61 points, unless four points from their personal best, and again ahead of Hubbell / Donohue (123.11) and Stepanova / Bukin (120.71).
The French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, quadruple world ice dance champions, during their rhythmic dance program, November 5, 2021 at the Italian Grand Prix in Turin Marco BERTORELLO AFP
In Grenoble in two weeks
So far, the best marks for the opening Olympic winter were 210.97 points for the total score, and 125.96 points for the free dance.
After Turin, the 2018 Olympic vice-champions, quadruple world champions (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019) and quintuple European champions will head to Grenoble in two weeks for their second Grand Prix of the winter, the 19 and November 20.
The French Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, quadruple world ice dance champions, during their rhythmic dance program, November 5, 2021 at the Italian Grand Prix in Turin Marco BERTORELLO AFP
The Grand Prix final, which will serve as a dress rehearsal before the Beijing Games, is scheduled from December 9 to 12 in Osaka (Japan).
Papadakis and Cizeron reappeared on the ice at the beginning of October after twenty months without competition, first for a national event at the start of the season, then a week later for a competition on the secondary circuit.
They won both.
Before that, their last outing was in January 2020 at the European Championships, in Graz (Austria): they bowed there for the first time since the Olympics-2018, ahead of the Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, who have since become world champions in their absence last March.
© 2021 AFP