Four-time World Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France dominated the Internationaux de France and danced to their sixth gold medal at their home Grand Prix event ahead of Canada’s Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier. Russian pair Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin claimed the bronze.
Once more, Papadakis/Cizeron put on a mesmerizing performance, their dance to “Elegie” by Gabriel Fauré highlighted by intricate footwork and beautiful lifts. The five-time European Champions collected a level four for the lifts, the combination spin and her part of the twizzles and one-foot step sequence while the diagonal step sequence and his twizzles were rated a level three. The multiple French Champions scored 132.17 points and totaled 221.25 points.
Papadakis/Cizeron (FRA) © International Skating Union (ISU)
“It was a good performance, but not perfect, there are some things we have to work on,” Papadakis said. “There are some levels we need to work on,” Cizeron added. “We have two weeks before the Grand Prix Final to improve.”
Dancing to “The Long and Winding Road” by The Beatles, Gilles/Poirier executed level-four lifts, twizzles and a level-four combination spin while the midline step sequence merited a level two. The 2021 World bronze medalists earned a total of 203.16 points.
“We made some improvements compared to Skate Canada, but our score is a bit lower and we need to go back and evaluate that,” Gilles said. “We are excited to go back to the Grand Prix Final and we’ll go home and work on the things (levels) we lost here.”
Stepanova/Bukin’s dance to “Romeo and Juliet” featured five level-four elements, but the one-foot step sequence earned only a level one. The Russian Champions picked up 120.40 points, just short of their season’s best, and accumulated 200.29 points.
Stepanova/Bukin (RUS) © International Skating Union (ISU)
“We’ve made a little step forward since our first Grand Prix in Italy and we are more satisfied with what we did here,” Bukin said. “Each competition is a preparation towards the Olympic Games, regardless of the level." Stepanova added: "We hope to improve from one competition to the next to be in the best possible shape for the Olympic Games.”
Papadakis/Cizeron qualified for the ISU Grand Prix Final with two wins in the series while Gilles/Poirier advance with a first and a second place. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) moved up one spot to finish fourth with their program to “Adagio” by Tomaso Albinoni (175.94 points). Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) came fifth on 175.91 points followed by Annabelle Morozov/Andrei Bagin (RUS) on 172.32 points.
For full results, see here.
