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Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron of France did the incredible – winning Olympic Ice Dance gold in their first season as a team. It was a spectacular night of Ice Dance at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Wednesday with emotional and amazing performances throughout. 

Fournier Beaudry & Cizeron’s golden debut

Fournier Beaudry & Cizeron held off a formidable challenge by three-time ISU World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) to strike gold. Canada’s Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier earned the bronze medal. 

The French dancers' performance to “The Whale” was just spellbinding. The minute the French couple started their dance, they drew the capacity crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena into a completely different world. 

Effortless looking yet difficult footwork and lifts merged with the choreography and music to form a total work of art. The 2026 ISU European Champions set a new personal best of 135.64 points for the Free Dance and 225.82 points overall. 

Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) held the Milan crowd spellbound as they won Ice Dance gold in their first season together © Getty Images

"Oh my God, we're still in shock," Cizeron said. 

“We had such a special time on the ice today. And looking back a year ago when we started dreaming of this, it's pretty incredible what we've been through and the work and the love that we've put into our training and our skating and the support that we've had along the way. We couldn't be more grateful and proud," he added.

"We really appreciated the moment tonight and were able to create an atmosphere that was a bit magic,” Fournier Beaudry noted. 

“When we finished the performance and waited for the scores, it was a bit stressful. Now we are floating on a cloud and we have a hard time believing it.”

Cizeron, 2022 Olympic Ice Dance Champion with Gabriella Papadakis, is the first Ice Dancer to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals with two different partners. 

Season's best for emotional Chock & Bates

Chock & Bates delivered a fascinating Flamenco to “Paint It Black”, looking sharp and precise in every movement, step and twizzle. At the end, the husband-and-wife team shared a long hug, overwhelmed by their emotion. The three-time ISU World Champions set new season’s bests in the Free Dance with 134.67 points and overall with 224.39 points. 

Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) earned a season's best with their precise flamenco to secure silver © Getty Images

“It's definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment,” Chock shared. “We have so much to be proud of. We've had the most incredible career, 15 years on the ice together. We delivered four of our best performances this week.”

Bates agreed: “We just performed four times in six days at the Olympics. We've never done anything like it, and it took so much mental strength and discipline to stay focused over the last six days and to deliver four great performances. 

"At the end of the fourth one, the emotions just came flooding up because it's just a lot and we really did our best. I think that is something that we'll try to remember and focus on most right now is that we really did our best,” he concluded.

Belief drives Gilles & Poirier to bronze

Performing to “Vincent” and dressed in a stunning costume reminiscent of Van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night”, Gilles & Poirier produced another beautiful dance full of technical difficulty. The four-time ISU World medalists netted a season’s best of 131.56 points and totaled 217.74 points to take their first Olympic medal. 

Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (CAN) won bronze with their picture-perfect 'Vincent' routine © Getty Images

“I think we're so proud of ourselves and what we've accomplished,” Poirier commented. 

“The start of the season was really difficult and challenging for us. A lot of moments throughout this season it kind of felt like we were taking on a giant in a lot of ways. Especially after the Grand Prix Final we had to make a conscious decision each day to believe in ourselves and to believe that what we wanted was possible. 

"We had to keep feeding ourselves that belief every single day even when it didn't really feel real. But I think that it is what allowed us to have a skate like that today at the Olympics,” he continued.

"We just left everything out on that table,” Gilles said. “To be able to soak in that moment and the energy from the crowd and our family members and friends that were there, it was so beautiful. Seeing Paul get super emotional, that doesn't happen often, but again, that's what it takes to have an Olympic moment like that.”

The Ice Dance medalists celebrate their achievements © Getty Images

Guignard & Fabbri thrive on home ice

The crowd got extra loud when Olympic Team bronze medalists Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri (ITA) took the ice and gave an emotional performance to “Diamanti”. The three-time ISU European Champions moved up one spot to finish fourth at 209.58 points. 

Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri (ITA) added fourth place to the bronze medal from the Team Event at their home games © Getty Images

“Now we feel a little bit relieved,” Fabbri noted. “Even if it was not like 100% perfect, we're proud of what we achieved at these Olympic Games. Getting home with a third and a fourth place at the Olympic Games means a lot to us.

“When we came here at the Olympic Games, the only two things we wanted was to enjoy these Olympic Games at home with the home crowd and trying to get the only medal that we still missed in our curriculum vitae. 

"Now we also have this bronze medal at the Olympic Games and it was like the big cake on the cherry as I always say,” he continued.

ISU Four Continents Champions Emilea Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik (USA) continued their rise to come fifth on their Olympic debut with a dramatic “Romeo and Juliet” program (206.72 points). 

"I mean, this is crazy,” a delighted Emilea Zingas said. 

“We're top five at the Olympics. This is absolutely insane. If you told me one year ago today that I'd be top five at the Olympics, I would have said, 'No, it's a lie. It's a straight-up lie.' So I'm really happy to be here and to have the result that we did. 

"I think it was a really special performance for us.”

Dancing to Techno music, Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) got the crowd going and moved up from 7th to 6th on 204.66 points.

Reigning ISU World bronze medalists Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson (GBR) gave an entertaining performance to Scottish music but a stumble from Fear in the twizzles was costly and they slipped from fourth to 7th place (204.32 points). 

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