France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron danced their way to a second gold of the season at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Bordeaux on Saturday.
The pair have gone from outsiders to favourites since their stunning victory two weeks ago at the Cup of China in Shanghai ahead of the reigning world and European champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte of Italy.
Taking to the ice last in their group after leading Friday’s short dance, their fluid and elegant free dance performance to Mozart’s ‘Piano Concerto No 23’ included complicated step sequences, lifts and twizzles.
The crowd were on their feet as the music died away with a deafening cheer resounding around the Meriadeck Ice Rink when their scores were posted.
Papadakis, 19, admitted their success in just their second senior season had been unexpected.
“We didn’t expect to have already reached this goal,” she said.
“Today’s performance, it’s true was very good, and so was yesterday’s.
“But we’ve worked on this programme so much now it just comes naturally. It’s never exactly the same, some days it will be different.”
They achieved 102.60 for the free dance and 166.66 overall to put themselves 9.08 points ahead of Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who scored 95.68 for their performance to ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, which earned them 95.68 and 157.58 overall.
“We had this pressure before coming here because expectations were high after China but today we were more relaxed,” said 20-year-old Cizeron.
“Having stress is an intense emotion and adds to the performance.”
The 2013 world junior runners-up have qualified for the elite ISU Grand Prix final in Barcelona next month along with Gilles and Poirier, also silver medallists at Skate Canada.
Papadakis and Cizeron began skating together ten years ago, and have followed their coach Romain Haguenauer from Lyon to Montreal this season.
The move paid off as they achieved career-best scores in the short dance, free dance and improved their overall total by over six points this weekend.
“Gabriella and Guillaume are great friends. They get on really well together. They have a way of moving that makes them seem like just one.
“They are real dancers, technically excellent,” said Haguenauer.
It was the fifth gold for France in ice dancing at the Bompard in the past eight years, with Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat winning two and Isabelle Delobel and Oliver Schoenfelder, a further two.
And the Montreal-based dancers have raised French hopes in figure skating following the retirement of former men’s world champion Brian Joubert and ice dancing world medallists Pechalat and Bourzat after the Sochi Olympics.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States were third on Saturday, as they were at Skate Canada, scoring 91.92 for their free skate to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and 152.11 overall.