Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France captured gold in ice dance on Wednesday, narrowly defeating Team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates in a thrilling finish.
The French duo’s victory, however, has been met with controversy, with some questioning the judging and a petition calling for an investigation already garnering over 13,000 signatures.
Despite navigating a pre-Games scandal, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron delivered a stunning performance, culminating in a gold medal. The pair, who began skating together in March 2025, posted a score of 225.82 in the free dance, edging out Chock and Bates, who finished with 224.49. Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier rounded out the podium with a score of 217.74.
The win comes after Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron topped the short program on Monday, establishing themselves as contenders in the competition. Their elegant routines have been celebrated, but their path to the podium has been shadowed by off-ice issues.
PALLEN: Dei tre medaljepara samla. Frå v.: USA, Franrkike og Canada.
Foto: Stephanie Scarbrough / AP / NTB
Fournier Beaudry’s boyfriend and former ice dance partner, Nikolaj Sørensen, was suspended from the sport in 2024 following allegations of a 2012 sexual assault. He has previously denied the accusations.
“We are still in shock,” Cizeron said after the event, speaking at the post-competition press conference.
The result has drawn comparisons to the 2002 Winter Olympics judging scandal, where a French judge initially admitted to being pressured by their federation to favor a particular pair, before later retracting the statement. A new scoring system was implemented in the wake of that controversy.
According to Newsweek, many fans are questioning the judging, echoing concerns from the past.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry og Guillaume Cizeron tok gull i isdans
Chock and Bates were asked on Thursday if they would consider appealing the results. “I guess we’ll consider it,” Chock said, according to Access. “I think it’s a highly subjective sport, but I too think fairness is decent when you’re considering the work of the judges. Not just after this competition, but to all competitions, to develop sure it’s fair and everyone has equal opportunities.”
A Close Call in the Rhythm Dance
NRK commentator Fredrik Island Gustavsen explained the controversy centers around the rhythm dance on Monday. “The French judge gave Cizeron/Fournier Beaudry almost eight points more than Chock/Bates, even though Cizeron came out of the twizzle sequence,” he said.
NRK-KOMMENTATOR: Fredrik Island Gustavsen.
Foto: NRK
Twizzles are quick, rotating turns on one foot performed in a traveling direction.
Gustavsen cautioned against suggesting the judging was biased. “In what we call the program component scores, the French consistently score better from almost all judges. Based on that, it’s tough to say the judging was skewed.”
“It certainly feels particularly tough for the Americans, who were only missing the individual Olympic gold from their medal collection, while the French pair have only been skating together for just under a season,” Gustavsen added.
SØLV: Chock og Bates var favoritt hos mange, men enda opp med sølvet.
Foto: Natacha Pisarenko / AP / NTB
“At the same time, Guillaume was the reigning Olympic champion with Gabriella Papadakis from 2022 and Laurence is a very skilled ice dancer, so this victory wasn’t entirely surprising.”
The International Skating Union (ISU) spokesperson told NBC that variations in scoring are normal. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and fully works for fairness,” the spokesperson said.
Evan Bates og Madison Chock måtte nøye seg med sølv.
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