The leaders after Friday’s rhythm dance, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron – competing as a team outside France for the first time – overcame low technical levels and a deduction for an extended lift for a free dance score of 124.29 points.
Although they scored almost nine points less than their score at the opening race of the season in France, it was enough to give them a total of 204.18 points, good for a second win of the season and qualification for the final in Nagoya, Japan. Low levels awarded by the technical jury are a recurring complaint from Helsinki’s ice dance teams.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to share these moments together,” Cizeron said. “We’re very pleased with our performances this weekend. We’ve been working a lot on the rhythm dance and I think that really showed yesterday. The free dance continues to develop and mature in a really beautiful way and we had so much fun showing that today.”
Piper Gilles And Paul Poirier from Canada finished second, enough to also confirm their participation in next month’s final in Japan. Their 122.55 points in the free dance gave them a total of 202.11, just over two points behind Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron.
“I think we’re very proud of our performance today,” Poirier said. “We had a lot of pressure on ourselves after a poor performance at Skate Canada, and so we had to prove to ourselves that we are capable of this program, and I think we accomplished that today.
“We’ve had some low levels this week and so we’ve got some things we need to work on, and you know, we’ve got a little bit of time now before the finals to get some things cleaned up before we go there. But I think we’re really excited to qualify for the finals again and take that next step closer to the finals.” [Olympic Winter] Games [Milano Cortina 2026].
Emile Zingas And Vadym Kolesnik finished third with 196.02 points after a free dance of 117.51, achieving their second top-three finish of the season and also booking their spot in Nagoya.
“I’m in shock, I’m still shaking a little bit because I wanted it so bad,” Zingas said. “Before we started skating, I was like, ‘We have to do this.’ I wanted it so bad, and I think that made me tighten up a little bit. I’m shocked.”
Kolesnik added: “If someone had told us that we would go to the finals at the beginning of the season, the Olympic season, that’s impossible. But deep down I had that dream and I’m glad I did it.
“This is probably the first season where we are 100 percent physically and mentally.”
Maia Shibutani And Alex Shibutaniin only their second international event after a seven-year absence from competition, finishing fifth.
“We obviously have high expectations and wanted to deliver at that moment, and I think we did that very well,” said Alex Shibutani.
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