On Wednesday night at the Forum di Milano, French figure skaters Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry beat American pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates to claim the Olympic gold in ice dance. But Cizeron on Thursday played down talk of pursuing a medal hat trick at the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
In Beijing in 2022, Cizeron won the title with Gabriella Papadakis four years after the duo took the silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
"I'm still in shock," Cizeron told French broadcaster Franceinfo. "Laurence and I came together only a year ago because of our love for the sport and our affection for each other.
"We've had the Milan Winter Olympic Games as the target for the last year and we've only been thinking about that," he added. "It's a bit soon to be talking about the 2030 Games in France. But we'll think about it."
Cizeron, 31, and his 33-year-old partner, who was born in Canada, notched up a season-high score of 90.18 points in the rhythm dance section on Monday to give themselves a slight lead over Chock and Bates, who entered the Winter Olympics as world champions.
Skating last on Wednesday night, Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry concluded their competition with a routine set to the soundtrack of the 2022 film The Whale. They finished 1.43 points ahead of Chock and Bates.
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"It's definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment," said Chock, who had been bidding for a third Olympic gold, having helped the United States defend their team title in Milan.
"We have so much to be proud of," said the 33-year-old. "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."
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Bates said: "We really did our best and I think that is something that we'll try to remember. 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."
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier from Canada took bronze. The Italian duo Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri finished fourth.
Controversy off the ice
Three weeks before the Games, Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry found themselves embroiled in controversy when Papadakis published a book in which she claimed she had been under Cizeron's "control" during their partnership, which ended following their fifth world title in 2022.
Cizeron has denounced the book as "defamatory" and announced that he was "handing over the case to lawyers".
Last March he teamed up with Fournier Beaudry, who received French citizenship last November. her former skating partner Nikolaj Sorensen, with whom she is in a relationship, was suspended from competition after being implicated in a 2012 sexual assault case in Canada.
He has denied the accusations and was in the crowd in Milan to watch Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron skate.
