Turin/ Italy

 

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Four-time World Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron from France top the Rhythm Dance at the ISU Grand Prix Gran Premio d’Italia in Turin (ITA) Friday. 2021 World silver medalists Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) placed second and Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin of Russia are sitting in third.

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Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France © International Skating Union (ISU)

Papadakis/Cizeron put out an excellent performance of their Waacking street-style dance moves to “Made to Love” and “U Move, I Move” by John Legend, collecting a level four for the twizzles and the curve lift.

The Blues Pattern garnered a level three, while the midline step sequence was a level two. The three-time World Champions set a season’s best with 87.45 points.

“We changed the second music of the program and the choreography a bit as well. We worked with our choreographer to choreograph something new,” Papadakis said. “I think it was very clean and we had a lot of fun working on that, it was a big improvement. We had a very good time performing.”

Hubbell/Donohue’s dance to “Nasty”, “Rope Burn” and “Rhythm Nation” by Janet Jackson was highlighted by a stationary lift, fast twizzles and smooth footwork. The 2021 World silver medalists got a level four for the lift and the twizzles while the Midnight Blues and Pattern Dance step sequence merited a level three. The U.S. Champions netted 84.79 points, a season’s best.

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Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States © International Skating Union (ISU)

“After our first Grand Prix we went home and we made some improvements,” Hubbell told the press. “Mainly we wanted to focus on improvements on tomorrow's free, there are no changes in the short dance, we just wanted to build on how we performed at Skate America,” he said.

“We edged our Skate America score a little bit, which is always the goal and we are excited to show some changes and little tweaks in our free dance.”

Dancing to Backstreet Boys, Stepanova/Bukin earned a level four for the straight line lift and the twizzles to score 81.47 points.

 

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Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of Russia © International Skating Union (ISU)

“It is indeed our first competition (this season) and think we can say now we were not confident enough,” Stepanova shared. “We would have loved to compete somewhere before, but it is what it is so we did our best.

“We are looking forward to perform our beloved free dance - it’s “Romeo and Juliet”, she added.

 Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) currently rank fourth at 75.60 points. Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (CHN) finished fifth (73.28 points) while Evgenia Lopareva/Geoffry Brissaud (FRA) came sixth (67.31points).

For full results, click here.