Olympic ice dance champions Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry dominated the rhythm dance at the world figure skating championships on Friday to put themselves on track for gold.
Skating to a programme inspired by Madonna’s hit “Vogue” the French ice dancers broke their season record with 92.74 points and lead the way going into Saturday’s free dance final.
They hold a comfortable lead of more than six points over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (86.45), the bronze medallists at the Milan-Cortina Olympics last month.
“We’re happy to have a season’s best,” said Cizeron.
“We felt it was a better performance than the rest of the season. We wanted to put on a great show for the crowd, and we really felt that energy.”
Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson got the crowd going with their Spice Girls routine to put them third with 85.89 points.
Crowned Olympic champions last month after a turbulent first season skating together Cizeron, 31, and 33-year-old Fournier Beaudry are bidding for their first world title together.
On the ice in the Czech capital, the reigning European champions are favourites since their main rivals, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, have chosen to skip the competition.
They bring the curtain down on their season on Saturday night with their free dance, a lyrical and poetic programme set to the soundtrack of the film “The Whale”.
If he wins, Cizeron will clinch his sixth world title after five victories with his former partner Gabriella Papadakis between 2015 and 2022.
For Canadian-born Fournier Beaudry it would be a first world medal.
“I think I’m going to have a hard time not crying before skating tomorrow (Saturday),” said Fournier Beaudry.
“It’s a programme that brings a different atmosphere (compared to Madonna), it’s a little less energetic and a little deeper.”
Cizeron added: “It touches us a little more deeply.
“It brings us other emotions, and we are still moved to perform it and hear the music.”
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