The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina has delivered its first major judging controversy, sending absolute shockwaves throughout the international figure skating community. During the highly anticipated ice dancing finals on Wednesday, February 11, the French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron managed to secure the Olympic gold medal in a stunning upset.
Their victory narrowly defeated the heavy pre-competition favorites, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, who were ultimately forced to settle for the silver medal. While Olympic upsets are a natural part of international competition, the intense backlash surrounding this specific podium finish is deeply rooted in the complicated history of the winning pair.
An Unprecedented and Rapid Ascent
In the highly technical and chemistry-driven sport of ice dancing, it is practically unheard of for a newly formed team to immediately ascend to the top of the Olympic podium. Yet, Fournier Beaudry (who is Canadian-born and recently obtained French citizenship) and Cizeron have been skating as a competitive partnership for less than a single year.
Their rapid rise to gold came at the expense of a veteran partnership like Chock and Bates, who have spent 15 years perfecting their synchronization, lifts, and narrative storytelling on the ice. The sheer lack of time the French pair spent together compared to the Americans has left many analysts and fans questioning how the judging criteria evaluated their component and synchronization scores.
A Partnership Born from Controversy
The controversy is further magnified by the troubling circumstances that brought the French team together in the first place. Both Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were previously left without partners due to respective, highly publicized controversies involving their former skating mates:
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Guillaume Cizeron: Cizeron’s previous partner, Gabriella Papadakis (with whom he won gold in 2022), published a memoir accusing him of being highly controlling and demanding, which led to the dissolution of their historic partnership.
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Laurence Fournier Beaudry: Fournier Beaudry’s former partner and current boyfriend, Nikolaj Sørensen, faced severe sexual assault allegations, leading to a temporary suspension from the Canadian skating federation that derailed their career together.
The sudden merging of these two newly solo skaters into a powerhouse team representing France—and their subsequent immediate dominance on the world’s biggest stage—has left an uneasy atmosphere over the competition.
The Judging Backlash
Supporters of the US team have expressed intense frustration over the final scoring. Critics of the decision argue that while Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron possess undeniable individual talent and world-class skating skills, their routine featured noticeable bobbles (such as during their twizzle sequences) that should have logically impacted their scores.
Instead, the judges rewarded the French team’s avant-garde free dance heavily enough to overtake the highly decorated Americans by a razor-thin margin. Scrutiny has particularly fallen on the score discrepancy from the French judge on the panel, reigniting perennial conversations about the subjective nature and transparency of figure skating judging.
As the 2026 Winter Games continue, this ice dancing finale will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most polarizing and hotly debated moments of the entire Olympiad.
