France's Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry snatch Olympic ice dancing gold

Cizeron, 31, and 33-year-old Fournier Beaudry took the title ahead of reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA after the free dance finale, in the wake of a turbulent year for the pair since teaming up.

"It’s quite dizzying when you look back a year ago to when we took on this challenge. God knows we've faced obstacles," Cizeron told France Televisions, adding he was "extremely proud of Laurence and of the strength she has shown."

"Looking back a year ago when we started dreaming of this it's pretty incredible what we've been through.

"The work and the love that we've put into our training and our skating and the support that we've had along the way, we couldn't be more grateful and proud."

For Cizeron it is a second consecutive Olympic ice dance gold after he won the title at the Beijing Winter Olympics four years ago with Gabriella Papadakis.

Three weeks before the Games, Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry found themselves embroiled in controversy when Papadakis published a book that caused a huge stir.

In it, she harshly criticised her former partner, claiming she had been under his "control" during their time skating together.

Cizeron, in response, denounced the book as "defamatory" and announced that he was "handing over the case to lawyers".
'Magical moment'
As she soaked in the triumph on Wednesday, Fournier Beaudry said it was "a feeling that's very hard to explain".

"We worked so hard to be here," she said, adding that "every day in training with Guillaume was a magical moment."

Cizeron and Papadakis retired from competition following their fifth world title in 2022 and he teamed up last March with Fournier Beaudry, his close friend.

Fournier Beaudry, a Canadian who only received French citizenship last November, had been available after the suspension of her former partner, Nikolaj Sorensen, who was implicated in a 2012 sexual abuse case in Canada.

He has denied the accusations and was in the crowd in Milan.

Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry had taken a slim 0.46-point lead over the Americans going into the free dance finale at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

The Americans, who are friends, training partners in Montreal and rivals of the French, presented a fiery flamenco to an orchestral rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black".

But skating last, the French concluded their competition with a mesmerising routine set to the powerful soundtrack of the 2022 film "The Whale."

They finished 1.43 points ahead of the three-time world champions.

"It's definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment," said Chock, who had been bidding for a third Olympic gold having helped the US defend their team title in Milan.

"We have so much to be proud of. We've had the most incredible career, 15 years on the ice together.

"First Olympics as a married couple and delivered four of our best performances this week.

"I'm really proud of how we've handled ourselves and what we've accomplished here."

Bates said: "It took so much mental strength and discipline to stay focused over the last six days.

"At the end of the fourth (performance), the emotions just came flooding out because it's just a lot.

"We really did our best and I think that is something that we'll try to remember and focus on most right now."

Bates added: "I feel like sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn't go your way.

"That's life and that's sport. It's a subjective sport. It's a judged sport."

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took bronze, pushing Italian couple Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri into fourth place.