Guillaume Cizeron eyes ice dance return with Laurence Fournier Beaudry
Guillaume Cizeron, who won 2022 Olympic ice dance gold with Gabriella Papadakis for France, plans to return to ice dance competition with a new partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, who has been competing for Canada.
'A new story begins,' the skaters said in a social media post announcing the partnership.
They want 'to make France shine at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games in 2026,' according to a France figure skating federation press release.
A rep for the skaters said that Fournier Beaudry is in the process of obtaining French citizenship to make them eligible to compete at the Olympics together.
Cizeron, 30, and Papadakis, 29, announced a joint retirement on Dec. 3. Their last competition was March 2022 when they won a fifth world title together.
Fournier Beaudry, 32, placed ninth at the 2022 Olympics with Nikolaj Sørensen, then fifth and ninth at the last two World Championships.
This past October, Sørensen was banned for at least six years for sexual maltreatment, according to Canada's Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner.
With their previous partners, both Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron trained at the Ice Academy of Montreal.
After Papadakis and Cizeron left competition, Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the last two World Championships in 2023 and 2024.
Later this month, Chock and Bates will bid to become the first ice dance couple to win three consecutive world titles in 28 years.
Nick Zaccardi,
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Raducanu says ‘expectations are low' for Queen's Club after fresh back spasm
Emma Raducanu has admitted she is unsure how her body will hold up to the rigours of the grass court season after another back spasm in training. The 22-year-old's latest injury concern came as she was preparing for the first women's tournament at Queen's Club for 52 years, and left her unable to practise for several days. It was Raducanu's second back spasm in three weeks, after initially experiencing the problem against Danielle Collins in Strasbourg a week before the French Open, and as a result she goes into the Queen's Club event with low expectations. Advertisement Related: 'It's a seminal moment': Queen's gears up for return of women's tennis after 52 years 'Of course I want to win this tournament, like every tournament, but especially when it's at home,' said Raducanu, who will play the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa in the first round on Tuesday. 'But my expectations are pretty low, because I played points for the first time today, and I've had maybe two or three days on the grass courts, so it's not been much.' Asked whether she was worried about it affecting her grass-court season, Raducanu replied: 'I can't really predict the future, and how it's going to be. I know I've been managing my back for the last few weeks now. It's something that comes and goes. 'It can be frustrating. When I was playing in Strasbourg in my second‑round match it definitely hindered me, and in the first round in Paris when I got through. But I try not to let it get to me. I just have to manage it and take care of it when things happen.' Advertisement Raducanu knows she faces a stacked field at Queen's Club that includes the reigning Wimbledon champion, Barbora Krejcikova, the Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and the Australian Open winner, Madison Keys. However, her preparations were given a lift when her former coach Nick Cavaday, who left her camp for health reasons in January, returned to help her practise with her main coach Mark Petchey still at the French Open. 'I'm happy to see Nick healthy, first of all,' Raducanu said. 'It's been a long time since we were last on court together in Australia, and Mark is in Paris commentating. Nick was around, and it is nice to have a few days with him.' The new WTA 500 tournament at Queen's Club features an enhanced prize money of £1m ($1.4m), but the purse remains about half that of the men's ATP 500 event, which begins next week. Raducanu did not want to be drawn on whether there should be more prize money between the men's and women's tour. Advertisement 'There is obviously a big difference, and I'm sure a lot of players will say their piece on it, but I prefer not to kind of get involved,' she said. 'Whatever the situation is, I'll kind of roll with it, but I'm never really going to take a stand, either way.' She was equally non-committal when asked about the LTA's commitment to equal prize money at Queen's by 2029. 'I don't really get involved or stay in the loop with all the boards and all the decisions and stuff,' she said. 'I just get on with it. But I don't feel like I really am playing for money. Of course, I need to sustain my team, which is extremely expensive. And with my kind of profile, coaches and team members see that. So it is a very expensive sport, but it's not my motivation when I play.' As a child, Raducanu used to come to Queen's Club with her father, although she conceded she was more interested in looking for brownies than watching the tennis. But now she admits she is delighted that women are finally back playing for the first time since 1973. 'To be playing here is amazing. It's the first time there's been a women's event for a very long time,' she said. 'It's going to be great to be playing on home turf with a good crowd.' Advertisement On Monday, Raducanu will make only her second appearance in a WTA doubles tournament after agreeing to partner her fellow Briton Katie Boulter, with whom she has played in Billie Jean King matches. 'It'll be extremely special,' Boulter said. 'Obviously, she's a great player, and I'm looking forward to having the first of many more.'
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Emma Raducanu overpowered by Zheng Qinwen at end of positive week
Emma Raducanu's positive week at Queen's came to a difficult end as she was overpowered by Zheng Qinwen, the Chinese top seed and world No 5, who produced a stellar performance to reach her first grass court semi-final with a 6-2, 6-4 win. After two months of trying to adapt her game to slow, unfamiliar clay courts, returning to the grass-court season on home soil has provided Raducanu with a helpful boost. She put together two impressive straight-sets wins against the Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa and Rebecca Sramkova, the world No 41. Advertisement Related: Emma Raducanu leapfrogs Katie Boulter to British No 1 after beating Sramkova at Queen's This match, however, represented a significant step up. Over the past year, Zheng, who is just one month older than Raducanu, has firmly established herself as one of the best players in the world and a contender for all of the biggest tournaments, winning the Olympic gold medal in Paris and rising to her current ranking of No 5. However, Zheng has had minimal experience on grass and had only three wins on the surface before this season's start. She narrowly survived McCartney Kessler, the world No 42, on Thursday evening after receiving a first-round bye. Even so, Zheng has massive weapons at her disposal, which means she is more than capable of being effective here. Although it can be inconsistent, her first serve is devastating that is complemented by her vicious forehand and the 22-year-old is also one of the better athletes on the tour. Those assets were immediately visible. Although Raducanu tried to impose by attacking second serves on the rise and trying to dictate with her forehand, early on she was simply overpowered by one of the WTA Tour's heavyweights. As Zheng served precisely and relentlessly attacked with both her forehand and backhand, the pace and weight on her groundstrokes completely overwhelmed Raducanu. Raducanu has repeatedly said she has continued to manage her back after suffering a recurrence of spasms, which has been a continuous problem this year. She took an off-court medical timeout before the start of the second set to aid it. As she returned to court, Zheng eventually fell back to earth. She completely lost control of her serve, landing only 28% of her first serves at the start of set two after a brilliant 69% in the opening set, and her forehand errors subsequently began to pile up. Raducanu suffocated Zheng's second serve and remained as she twice broke for a 3-0 lead. Advertisement After a dire run of serving at the start of the year, Raducanu has made significant changes to it, adopting a lengthier motion. Although it has improved, she can still lose confidence and rhythm. She became tentative behind her first serve after a couple of early double faults, which allowed Zheng to step inside the court and dominate. As Zheng regained her service rhythm, the incoming British No 1 was tasked with holding on to her serve in order to force. It came as little surprise when she double faulted on break point to relinquish the second break. Shortly after, Zheng had rolled through four consecutive games to close out the win. This has been another positive week for Raducanu, who regains her status as British No 1 again on Monday and is not far from being a seed at Wimbledon. As has been the case for much of her season, though, she has performed well against lower ranked players but her game has often looked too underpowered against the best players in the world.
Buzz Feed
an hour ago
- Buzz Feed
Alex Cooper's Shocking Revelation In Hulu Documentary
Alex Cooper revealed she was sexually harassed by her college soccer coach in her new Hulu documentary, Call Her Alex, then told a Tribeca Festival audience Sunday that it 'changed my life forever.' The Call Her Daddy podcast star fielded a Q&A session after the Hulu docuseries about her premiered, leaving spectators gasping when she made the stunning claim, Deadline wrote. She said while on stage that she had waited several years to go public because it was difficult to reopen the wound. Cooper alleged in Call Her Alex that her then-coach at Boston University, Nancy Feldman, made comments about her body, constantly attempted to be alone with her, asked her sexual questions, and made unwelcome efforts to touch her thigh, multiple outlets reported. Cooper claimed that attempts to distance herself from Feldman resulted in less playing time. Lawyers warned Cooper and her parents that the school would 'drag out' a complaint for years, and the university did not respond to documentation of Feldman's misconduct, Cooper said, per reports. Cooper played for Boston University from 2013 to 2015. Feldman retired in 2022. Cooper returned to campus for the filming of the documentary. 'The minute I stepped back on that field, I felt so small,' Cooper said as she broke into tears during the Q&A and got a roaring ovation of support. 'I just felt like I was 18 years old again, and I was in a situation with someone in a position of power who abused their power, and I felt like I wasn't the 'Call Her Daddy' girl. I wasn't someone who had money and influence or whatever. I was just another woman who experienced harassment on a level that changed my life forever and took away the thing I loved the most.' Cooper once credited the still-undisclosed trauma for guiding her into podcasting, where she averages millions of listeners per episode. She also joined NBC for its coverage of the Paris Olympics last summer.
