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Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron from France compete during the ice dance free dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Just a month after winning Olympic gold, Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France won ice dance gold at the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague.
In a performance that surpassed the quality of their Olympic win, the French duo defeated silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (Canada) and bronze medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (United States).
With their win, the French become the fastest ice dance duo to win Olympic and World gold, having only begun training together in March 2025. While the title is Fournier-Beaudry’s first, it is the sixth world title for Cizeron, who won four with his former partner Gabriella Papadakis.
This is the third-straight silver medal for Gilles and Poirier, who have amassed one Olympic and five world medals in their 15-year partnership.
With three-time World Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates out of the competition, top-ranked Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik looked to keep the American Ice Dance legacy alive, and they succeeded.
The pair earned bronze in their world championship debut, securing a medal for U.S. Figure Skating in the 13th-straight championship.
Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, finished in eighth and 12th, respectively.
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Ice Dance Final Results (Top 10)
- Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron (France): 230.81
- Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (Canada): 211.52
- Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik (United States): 209.20
- Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (Great Britain): 208.98
- Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck (Spain): 206.37
- Evgenia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud (France): 203.77
- Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius (Lithuania): 200.66
- Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko (United States): 200.56
- Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha (Canada): 199.06
- Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin (Georgia): 198.65
The Prague Play-by-Play
Spain’s Oliva Smart and Tim Dieck led heading into the final group after a personal-best effort in the Free Dance. The pair skated to a stirring Dune-themed routine, drawing the first standing ovation of the day from the Czech crowd.
French skaters Evgenia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud qualified sixth after the Rhythm Dance and skated first on Saturday. Though the pair delivered another solid performance in Prague, they fell just short of Smart and Dieck.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, the American hopes, skated next. The duo “made a statement,” skating with power and authority in their first world championship performance as a pair. The Michigan natives received a personal-best 124.99 to climb into first with three teams to skate.
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PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - MARCH 27: Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik of United States perform during ISU World Figure Skating Championships - Prague on March 27, 2026 in Prague, Czech Republic. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun - International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)
International Skating Union via Getty Images
Reigning world bronze medalists, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, skated next. Performing to an electric Scottish mashup, the pair showcased significant improvement from their Milan-Cortina performances, igniting an equally-electric audience reaction.
Another medal seemed imminent for the pair. However, while waiting for the scores, drama unfolded, and the pair’s technical score plummeted.
The pair received a two-point deduction for an illegal element, dropping them to second place with two teams to skate. “They’ve got 20 thousand people who fell in love with what they’ve just seen," commentator Mark Hanretty remarked, reflecting on the crowd’s reaction as O2 Arena filled with a chorus of boos.
Expressions of joy turned to heartbreak for the British team, as the coaches and athletes visibly scanned the scoreboard for answers. While Fear and Gibson reacted, the show went on.
Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took to the ice.
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Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson react after performing during the Ice Dance Free Dance program of the 2026 ISU Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic on March 28, 2026. (Photo by Michal Cizek / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
After enchanting audiences to win Olympic bronze in Milan-Cortina, the pair looked to return to the podium for their fifth world medal as a duo.
Though Saturday’s “Wuthering Heights” performance could not match their dreamlike performance of “Starry, Starry Night” from Milan-Cortina, Gilles and Poirier delivered a strong exercise to hurdle the Americans for the lead.
However, with the French to go, the Canadians looked prepared to accept silver.
Entering with the largest score differential in the history of world ice dance competition, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron simply needed to perform cleanly to secure world championship gold.
Skating to a dramatic piece from “The Whale," the pair executed their best twizzle sequence in 2026, showing improvement from their Olympic gold medal performance.
“It’s hard to fully articulate the utter brilliance of the skating we’ve just seen," Hanretty remarked, referring to the pair’s superior skating skills.
Saluting to a standing ovation, Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry would strike gold once again. The duo earned a personal best to dominate the competition by nearly 20 points.
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