Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron recorded the world’s best rhythm dance score in three years as they look to add a world title to their Olympic gold medal in their first season together.
The French couple scored 92.74 points with their Vogue program, taking a 6.29-point lead over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier into Saturday’s free dance in Prague, Czechia (live on Peacock).
Brits Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are in third, 88 hundredths of a point more than Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s score is the world’s best since Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates tallied 93.91 at the 2023 World Team Trophy.
FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
“It was quite magic,” Cizeron said, according to the International Skating Union. “It is a crazy atmosphere at the rink. It gives me butterflies — first of excitement, and then of gratitude for being here. We’ve delivered a beautiful performance, more relaxed than at the Games. The points followed but, honestly, it was more about having this moment at the arena with the fans and all of the audience. It was very special.”
At the Milan Cortina Olympics, the French edged the Americans for gold by 1.43 points in the closest figure skating result of the Games. The couples shared coaches at the Ice Academy of Montreal.
Chock and Bates, who won the last three world titles, withdrew from these worlds three weeks ago, saying they “left it all on the ice in Milan” and that their “season feels complete.”
In Chock and Bates’ absence, Zingas and Kolesnik are the top hope to extend an American streak.
At least one U.S. couple made the ice dance podium at each of the last 10 World Championships among Chock and Bates, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.
Zingas and Kolesnik extended their breakout season with a personal best rhythm dance score. They were fourth at the January 2025 U.S. Championships, then sixth-best in the world in last fall’s Grand Prix season and fifth in their Olympic debut.
Kolesnik said getting back into training after the Olympics for their World Championships debut together was “the hardest thing I ever had to do.” Zingas cried in their first week back on the ice due to fatigue.
“Being the top American team is a new experience for us,” she said. “We wanted this. We wanted it for so long, and finally, to have the opportunity to be the top American team, it feels really good, but it comes along with some pressure.”
The other American couples sit seventh (Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko) and 13th (Caroline Green and Michael Parsons).
Carreira and Ponomarenko, who were 11th in the Olympic debut, posted their first rhythm dance personal best since November 2024, breaking 80 points for the first time.
“Our confidence was knocked down a little bit after the Grand Prix (season in the fall), and we’ve slowly been rebuilding that,” said Carreira, who got sick after the Olympics, “wheezing for three weeks.” “So I think today, just the confidence showed a bit more.”
Green and Parsons, who were fourth at nationals, were called up to replace Chock and Bates. They prepared for the possibility since placing second at the Four Continents Championships in late January.
“It wasn’t a big surprise to get the call,” Parsons said. “We kind of came back from Four Continents with the mindset of train like we’re going now, and best-case scenario is we go, and worst-case scenario is we go, ‘Oh man, we’re in such good shape, and our season’s over.’”
Cizeron can tie the record of six world titles in ice dance that’s held by Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov, a Soviet couple from the 1970s.
Cizeron won world titles with former partner Gabriella Papadakis in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022, plus Olympic gold in 2022.
Papadakis and Cizeron announced a joint retirement in December 2024, two and a half years after their last competition together.
Then in March 2025, Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry, who formerly competed for Canada, announced their partnership.
Worlds continue later Friday the women’s free skate, live on Peacock and USA Network.
