Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron made a comeback to international ice this season as a new team, scoring 79.89, an improvement on the 78.00 they scored on the Grand Prix of France 2025 and gave them a slim 0.33 point lead over this season’s Skate Canada winners.
However, they were dissatisfied with the level given to their elements by the technical panel.
Cizeron said: “We had a very good performance on the ice today and we are very happy with that, our overall performance. But we are disappointed with the way the technical jury assessed our performance. That is what we are here for today.”
The French duo only received a level one call (level four is the highest) on their centerline step sequence and pattern dance-style step sequence, while Gilles and Poirier received the same calls behind them. Gilles’ successive twizzles were only given a base level, the lowest possible, which probably made the difference between the teams.
What have Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron been working on in the two months since the Grand Prix de France?
“We had changed music so drastically from one competition to another, from French Masters to Angers (where the French Grand Prix took place),” said Fournier Beaudry. “It didn’t give us much time to work on the program. Now we’ve been able to tweak some things and really go into more detail so that it feels like we’re performing from start to finish.”
Friday also marked the team’s first time competing with Fournier Beaudry as French citizens, having received her passport two weeks ago, making them officially eligible for selection for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.As the National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation in Milano Cortina 2026 depends on the choice of their NOC to represent their delegation.)
“It’s really nice because it feels like it’s out of the way now, it was a big step,” she said. “Now we can continue with qualifying, all the qualifying events that are necessary to go to the Olympics, and it’s a relief. So it’s nice to compete here [as a French citizen].”
Rising figure skating team Emile Zingas And Vadym Kolesnik came third with 78.51 points, while other American skaters Maia Shibutani And Alex Shibutani are in fifth place heading into Saturday’s free dance in their second competition in seven years.
“We have made some strong improvements since NHK (Trophy),” said Maia Shibutani, “even though it was a tight turnaround. It felt like the performance was even better, so in terms of growing our skating we are going in the right direction.”
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