French win 4th European title

MOSCOW: Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron broke their own world record score to claim a fourth straight European ice dance title in Moscow on Saturday.

The all-conquering French duo blitzed the Russian-led opposition with a perfect free dance routine. That earned them a score of 121.87 points for a mammoth 203.16 total to cement their claims on next month’s Olympic title. Papadakis, 22, and Cizeron, 23, who were the first to smash through the 200-point barrier earlier this season, clinched gold at the Megasport Palace with a 16 point margin over home hopes Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev (187.13). Another Russian couple, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Burkin, took bronze on 184.86. The world champions in 2015 and 2016 had set up their latest success with an accomplished short programme routine on Friday. And they were not to be denied as they twizzled and spun their way into the history books in four minutes of choreographed brilliance set to Moonlight Sonata. With good reason having established themselves as the couple to beat in Pyeongchang at what will be their first ever Games. The 2018 European Championships conclude later Saturday with the women’s free skate starring two time champion Evgenia Medvedeva and Russian teen Alina Zagitova.