France’s four-time World Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron reigned supreme in the Ice Dance event at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Gran Premio d’Italia in Turin (ITA) Saturday. 2021 World silver medalists Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) danced to the silver medal and the bronze went to Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin of Russia.
Papadakis/Cizeron put out an impressive performance of their dance to “Elegie” by Gabriel Fauré which was highlighted by intricate footwork and beautiful lifts.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France © International Skating Union (ISU)
The five-time ISU European Champions earned a level four for their lifts, twizzles and the combination spin, while the diagonal step sequence was rated a level three. The multiple ISU Grand Prix Champions set a new season’s best with 132.61 points and accumulated 220.06 points overall for a confident victory.
“We are happy with our performance today, we made some improvements technically since Finland (Finlandia Trophy),” Cizeron said.
“We pushed ourselves during the last weeks. There are still a lot of things to work on for the next Grand Prix and the Final. It's a whole year's process, we go step by step and we improve what needs to be improved,” he continued.
“We are happy with the performance,” added Papadakis. “We improved with the levels on the steps, which was the main goal for this competition.”
Hubbell/Donohue’s dance to “Drowning” by Anne Sila included innovative lifts that were graded a level four, as were the combo spin and the twizzles.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States © International Skating Union (ISU)
The 2021 ISU World silver medalists picked up 123.11 points and had 207.90 points overall. With a first and a second place in their two events, Hubbell/Donohue qualified for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
“Zach and I made some improvements since Skate America. We were able to increase our levels on the step sequence and we made some changes musically as well as choreographically,” Hubbell noted.
“It's hard as an athlete to have a solid performance and make a mistake towards the end, which always leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth,” she added, referring to a wobble on their choreo lift. “We are disappointed with the score today, and with our combo lift getting +2 from some of the judges, so we need to hear the feedback why.”
Dancing to “Romeo and Juliet”, Stepanova/Bukin collected a level four for five elements. The four-time European medalists scored 120.71 points which added up to 202.18 points.
Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin of Russia © International Skating Union (ISU)
“Today we are not as happy as yesterday with our performance, because we lacked speed and power and hence some emotions were missed. It's a dance that is full of emotions, it's about love, and we were unable to show the whole story today,” Stepanova said.
“We are happy, overall, with skating two clean performances. We'll keep working and our second Grand Prix is in a week (in Grenoble),” she continued.
Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (CHN) moved up to fourth place with their Free Dance to Chinese music (184.59 points) while Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) slipped to fifth after she fell on the exit from a lift (178.26 points). Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffry Brissaud (FRA) placed sixth at 174.63.
For full results, see here.
