Ice dancing power pairs share rink — and rivalry
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA >>
It’s a safe bet that when the ice dance is over Tuesday (today on the West Coast), the new Olympic ice dancing champions will hail from Centre Gadbois, a rink in Montreal.
In 2014, France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron relocated to Quebec along with their coach, Romain Haguenauer, to train with coaches Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.
Two years later they were joined by Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the 2010 Olympic champions and 2014 silver medalists who were returning to competition after a twoyear layoff.
The moves have resulted in Papadakis and Cizeron winning the 2015 and 2016 World titles, Virtue and Moir capping an undefeated 2016-17 season by taking the 2017 Worlds.
“This is the most prepared that we’ve been,” Virtue said.
“We’re confident, we’re ready, we’re strong. It’s fun taking the ice, skating over those Olympic rings and knowing that we have done everything possible to set ourselves up for this moment.
“It allows us to look around, embrace that energy, embrace that pressure and really realize and capitalize on the moment that we’ve been dreaming about.”
A Canadian victory, however, is far from a lock. Papadakis and Cizeron won their most recent meeting with Virtue and Moir, the ISU Grand Prix final in Japan on Dec. 9.
“We have trained with both Tessa and Scott and Gabriella and Guillaume, who for the last three seasons have seemed to dominate,” said Madison Hubbell of the U.S, who with her partner, Zachary Donohue, is also based at Centre Gadbois.
“Certainly I know Tessa and Scott aren’t feeling like gold is secure for them.”
This isn’t the first time Virtue and Moir have shared ice with their closest rivals. They had previously trained at the Artic Edge Ice Arena in Canton, Mich., alongside Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S.
The Americans finished second to Virtue and Moir in Vancouver and then reversed the order in Sochi four years later.