Feb. 14 (UPI) — French figure skaters Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron dominated on the ice, posting a world-record total score of 226.98 to win gold in the ice dance – free dance at the 2022 Winter Games on Monday in Beijing.
“I think we don’t believe it yet,” Papadakis told NBC. “Honestly it feels completely unreal. We have been waiting for this.
“This is the medal that we wanted. My brain doesn’t understand it.”
Russian’s Victoria Sinitsina claimed silver with a total score of 220.51. Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue posted a 218.02 for bronze.
France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron have their Olympic gold medal moment in ice dance.
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@nbc and @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/o7swtCHv6C— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
Papadakis and Cizeron, who claimed silver at the 2018 Winter Games, posted a 90.83 in the short dance to beat their own world record and gave themselves a two-point edge before the free dance.
They finished with a 136.15 in the second portion of the event, well ahead of the competition.
Americans Evan Bates and Madison Chock finished fourth, ahead of Italy’s Marco Fabbri and Charlene Guignard in the Top 5.
The Olympic figure skating schedule continues with the women’s single skating short program Tuesday in Beijing. The event airs at 5 a.m. EST on USA.