French duo on verge of 4th figure skating crown

MOSCOW: Record-breakers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron closed in on their fourth consecutive European ice dance title in Moscow on Friday.

The French duo led the field on 81.29 points after an accomplished short programme set to a Latin remix of Ed Sheeran’s smash 2017 hit Shape of You on the third day of the 2018 European Championships at the Megasport Palace rink. “We are happy with our performance. We had a little tiny mistake on the twizzle (turn). It’s the kind of thing that never happens - but it did,” said Papadakis.

She said they were enjoying dancing to the Sheeran soundtrack, explaining: “We liked it, because we wanted to do something more young, more urban, more modern, more like us.” The 22-year-old and the year older Cizeron have swept all before them this year, smashing the world ice dance points record to become the first to ever break the 200-point mark in China in November.