Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron of France danced to victory in a spectacular Ice Dance competition full of moments to remember. The crowd of 8,000 at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield witnessed an exciting battle for the medals as competition wrapped up at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2026 with the Free Dance.

Fournier Beaudry & Cizeron celebrate victory at maiden European Championship

Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron of France cruised to gold, winning the title in their first season as a team. Italy’s Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri overtook Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson of Great Britain to earn the silver medal in their 14th ISU European Championship. 

Fournier Beaudry & Cizeron continue to amaze. The ISU Grand Prix Final silver medalists turned in a simply breath-taking performance of their program to “The Whale”, floating effortlessly through their intricate steps and twizzles, lifts and spin. The French Champions picked up a level four for the lifts, twizzles and spin to achieve a new personal best of 135.50 points for the Free Dance and 222.43 points overall. 

Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) produced a breath-taking Free Dance to be crowned ISU European Champions in their first season together © ISU

“I feel a lot of joy. I’m still in shock,” Fournier Beaudry said. 

“But truly, truly, I feel a lot of gratitude for the whole team who supported us through the big challenge we set for ourselves last January. 

“Right now, we’re taking a moment to savor our victory of the day - of the week, really. We came here regarding this competition as a rehearsal for the Olympic Games. 

“It was a long week of training, a very good week across all our sessions, and we put down two strong performances. That gives us a bit of hope and motivation for what’s ahead,” she continued.

“I’m just very proud - very proud of Laurence, of us, and of our team,” Cizeron agreed. 

“These are special moments we try to imprint in our memory. It was obviously a very important step for us. 

“We made changes we wanted to test here, and I think they proved themselves.”

When getting onto the ice for the five-minute warm-up, Guignard & Fabbri had to overcome a shock as a hook of Fabbri’s right skating boot came off. He spent four minutes of the warm-up to fix the issue but the incident was forgotten the second the three-time ISU European Champions took the ice to perform.

Dancing beautifully to the “Diamanti” soundtrack, the Italians produced smooth steps and innovative lifts to set a season’s best of 125.86 points in the Free Dance. 

Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri (ITA) won silver 14 years after their maiden European Championships at the same Sheffield venue © ISU

Overall, the Italian Champions scored 210.34 points to edge out Fear & Gibson by less than a point.

“It was not easy, to be honest, because we were feeling very good before stepping on the ice and then as soon as this thing happened, I felt that my body got really stiff,” Fabbri explained. 

“We were lucky enough not to skate first or even second. I had the right time to get back with the right feeling and then once I stepped on the ice again, I started feeling a little bit better. Then the music started and I felt that I could do it.”

It was a full-circle moment for Guignard & Fabbri, who competed in their very first ISU European Championships here in Sheffield 14 years ago. 

“It's been special because you have the possibility to look back at your path, to your evolution,” Fabbri noted. 

“Sometimes in life, you close circles. And that was that moment. It's been really nice to think back not just to the first European Championship we competed at, but also to all the other European Championships we competed in. It's been very nice and sweet.”

As Fear & Gibson were announced the home crowd exploded in cheers. The reigning ISU World bronze medalists, dressed in tartan, opened their Scottish dance with an impressive combination lift but then Gibson stumbled briefly at the end of the twizzles series.

The British Champions continued as if nothing had happened and finished on a high note, but the mistake was to prove costly. 

With a score of 124.04 points, Fear & Gibson ranked third in the Free Dance and slipped to third overall at 209.51 points. 

Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (GBR) had the support of the home crowd for their Scottish dance but slipped to third place after a stumble © ISU

“It was like an out-of-body experience, but we need to be in our bodies to skate,” Fear said about the noise the crowd made for them. 

“So I was like, ‘OK, focus girl’. It's that balance between focus, but then also it's very loud and you can feel it. 

“I had goosebumps when I was skating. It was just this electricity and something that was very magical about that. Obviously, a lot of emotion comes with that too, which we were able to really let in at the end of the program.

“In the moment, in my head was, ‘Oh, that's not ideal’,” she said about the error. “And just knowing it's very costly, but we have so much experience in training and in competition where these things do happen. 

“A skill that we have to train mentally is being able to refocus and be present because otherwise, the mistake can follow you for the whole program and detract from the rest of it.

“I was really proud we recovered quickly and got straight back into the next element because those are points right there. 

“We also let in the joy and the fun because we didn't want to miss the experience of having this home crowd just because we made a mistake. And I'm really proud that we did that.”

The three Ice Dance couples celebrate their achievements on the podium at the Utilita Arena, Sheffield © ISU

2025 ISU European silver medalists Evgeniia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) turned in another excellent performance to songs by Björk to move up one spot to fourth at 204.72 points. 

2024 ISU European bronze medalists Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) came fifth with their entertaining performance to Electronic Dance Music. 

Diana Davis & Gleb Smolkin (GEO) showed yet another, very classical style in their performance to Sonata for Cello & Piano No.1 in D Major by Nikolai Myaskovski to finish sixth at 199.31 points.

Find more comments of the skaters and the press conference highlights on the ISU event website in the “For Media” section. For more information, also see the Facts & Figures published on the ISU event website. 

What & When

The schedule of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2026 is as follows:

Wednesday, January 14: Pairs & Women’s Short Programs
Thursday, January 15: Men’s Short Program & Pairs Free Skating
Friday, January 16: Rhythm Dance, Women’s Free Skating
Saturday, January 17: Men’s Free Skating & Free Dance
Sunday, January 18: Exhibition Gala
 

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