World gold in 2018 a month after Olympic silver (and the misadventure of the torn dress), European and world gold in 2019, to take their collection to four world and five continental crowns: the duo are enjoying an ideal first half of the Olympiad .

It was in January 2020 that its course went off the rails.

At the European Championships in Graz (Austria), Papadakis and Cizeron lost unexpectedly, and narrowly, to the Russians Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, who had become their main adversaries.

Their only defeat since the 2018 Olympics.

The skater then explains that she "experienced some difficult things in life a year ago".

"And there was a time when I started to be mentally and emotionally overworked. Where I couldn't train anymore. My body wasn't responding anymore," she says.

"In Graz, I'm not going to say that they were burnt out, but not far. There was a fed up," remembers their trainer Romain Haguenauer.

Then suddenly, the pandemic sets in, first causing the cancellation of the Worlds-2020 scheduled for Montreal - where they have been living since 2014 and where the rinks remained closed for three months in the spring of 2020 -, and also disrupting the season. next.

Papadakis and Cizeron, who admit to having gone through an emotional "roller coaster", did not finally return to competition until more than 600 days later, last October.

- "Welcome rest" -

For the best ?

"It was a welcome break. At the time of the European Championships, we weren't in the best state of mind. The rest was welcome at that time in our career," Cizeron told AFP. .

"Not having to fly, to be in airports, in suitcases, I needed it, recognizes Papadakis. It's quite exhausting to chain seasons as we had done the last six, seven years. There, we are fresh, we do not drag accumulated fatigue, injuries.

Dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron in training on February 9, 2022 before their entry into the running at the Beijing Games Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

When world skating resumes chugging along in the fall of 2020, Papadakis and Cizeron set their sights on the Worlds-2021 at the end of March in Stockholm.

But persistent travel difficulties eventually make them give up.

So much so that the two dancers are dedicated to making their two Olympic programs sooner than ever.

"The others were going to the World Championships when we already had bits of programs", recalls Cizeron.

"It was nice because creating is a part of the job that you love, he continues. Being able to create without the pressure of time, having the time to make mistakes, to start over, to really take your time. "

"Exploration"

The time, and the rare opportunity too, to collaborate in depth with "super inspiring people", in this case the choreographers Axelle Munezero and Saxon Fraser, and the dancer Kim Gingras, all Montrealers.

Until dancing battles in the parks of the city of Quebec to appropriate the imposed theme of urban dances.

"Normally, we might not have looked under our noses, and anyway they would not have been there, but on tour", explains Cizeron.

Dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron in training on February 9, 2022 before their entry into the running at the Beijing Games Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

"There, as we had no choice, we discovered that Montreal was full of talent, and in addition they were free", pandemic obliges, summarizes Papadakis to AFP.

"A misfortune for them, but a great opportunity for us."

"It's been three, four years since we really worked with outside choreographers, hadn't had this new wind," he appreciates.

"Before even doing the choreography, we did a lot of exploration, she adds. There are a thousand things we didn't keep, but it's really nice to have been able to do that. We never could if we had had a normal season last year."

"It's the first year where we don't feel like we've made compromises in our ideas, in the choreographies, in the concepts," says Papadakis.

Ultimately ?

According to her, their programs "without a doubt the most complex" and "the most successful".

Which they did not, however, present at the European Championships in mid-January as a health precaution.

"With their maturity, they have two fantastic programs," said Haguenauer.

At the height of their ambition of Olympic gold, the only one that resists them.

© 2022 AFP