Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee suspended the Olympic Committees of Russia and Belarus. The skating federations of Russia and Belarus were each permitted to nominate one skater or team from each discipline to compete at the Skate to Milano as a means to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs). Each nominee was required to pass a special screening process to assess whether they had displayed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine or had any contractual links to the Russian or Belarusian military.[1] No ice dance teams from either Russia or Belarus competed in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The ice dance competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics was held on 9 and 11 February at the Forum di Milano in Milan, Italy.[2]Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States entered the competition as the presumptive favorites. They had won gold in the team event, which had ended just one day before the ice dance competition began, having performed both the rhythm dance and free dance. Chock and Bates were three-time World champions and seven-time U.S. national champions, and held world records in ice dance.[3] Their strongest competitors were expected to be Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France.[4] Cizeron had competed for years with Gabriella Papadakis, winning five World Championship titles and gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics before they ended their partnership in December 2024.[5] Fournier Beaudry had competed for Canada with Nikolaj Sørensen before Sørensen received a six-year suspension from competitive skating in October 2024. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had announced their new partnership in March 2025 with a stated goal of competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics.[6] Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had most recently won the 2026 European Figure Skating Championships.[7]
On 15 January, Gabriella Papadakis released her memoir, So as Not to Disappear (French: Pour Ne Pas Disparaître), in which, among other things, she alleged a history of controlling and abusive behavior on the part of Cizeron. Cizeron responded by issuing a cease-and-desist that led to Papadakis losing her job as a commentator for NBC. Additionally, Netflix released its docuseries, Glitter & Gold: Ice Dancing, just prior to the Olympics; Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were one of the couples featured. While the documentary did not address the details of Cizeron's split from Papadakis, it did address Fournier Beaudry's split from Nikolaj Sørensen, and the details of his suspension.[8] Fournier Beaudry has continued to support Sørensen, with whom she has been in a long-term relationship. The woman who had accused Sørensen of assault made a statement to The Canadian Press: "The comments of the reigning Olympic champion and a team in contention for the upcoming Olympic title carry weight, and using their voices to publicly undermine a survivor's truths further enforces the culture of silence in figure skating."[9]
Eighteen quota spots in the ice dance event were awarded based on results at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.[10] An additional four spots were awarded at the Skate to Milano.[11] Finland had originally qualified for two quota spots in the ice dance event at the 2025 World Championships; however, when Yuka Orihara was unable to obtain Finnish citizenship, Skating Finland ultimately relinquished their second quota spot.[12] As a result, the spot was reallocated to Sweden, and Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov became the first Swedish ice dance team to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics.[13]
The twenty highest scoring teams performed their free dances on Wednesday, 11 February.[2] The free dance could last no longer than 4 minutes,[14] and had to include the following: three dance lifts, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements.[15]
All of the technical elements in any figure skating performance–such as jumps and spins–were assigned a predetermined base point value and were then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from -5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.[16] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, the average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE was added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total elements score.[17] At the same time, judges evaluated each performance based on three program components–skating skills, presentation, and composition–and assigned a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments.[18] The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results were added together to generate a total program component score.[19]
Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.[21] The total elements score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater.[22]
The rhythm dance was held on Monday, 9 February. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, the favorites to win the ice dance competition, finished in second place in the rhythm dance behind Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron set a new personal best score in the rhythm dance, a score which was seen by some as controversial, as they were notably out of sync during their sequential twizzles. Chock and Bates, on the other hand, received a downgrade on their pattern dance step sequence, leaving them in second place. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada finished in third place.[23]
The free dance was held on Wednesday, 11 February. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France emerged victorious, having taken the lead over Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States by a small margin after the rhythm dance. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron's free dance was set to music from The Whale. When asked about preparing for the Olympics amongst all of the distraction, Cizeron stated thusly: "It's been quite the challenge... From the beginning we have tried to create a bubble and support each other. We think the love we have for each other and for the sport has drawn us through, kept our heads on our shoulders. Now we are enjoying those moments, we don't want them taken away from us."[7]
Chock and Bates set a new season-best score in their free dance: a matador-themed routine featuring flamenco and paso doble elements set to "Paint It Black", with Chock as the matador and Bates as the bull. "It's definitely a little bittersweet because we are so, so happy with how we performed this week," Chock stated afterward. "We really gave it our all, and I wouldn't change anything about how we approached each performance, what we delivered in each performance. We really gave it our best."[25]Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada finished in third place. "Our main focus for this Olympic Games was to create a moment for ourselves and to not focus on anything else," Gilles said. "And I think we truly created the moment that we wanted to and really let the judging be the judging and that's all we can do, but I'm really proud of what we did and how we represented ourselves."[25]
The results of the ice dance event sparked backlash, with media outlets questioning how Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won despite notable errors with their twizzle sequences in both their rhythm dance and free dance. Controversy arose when an examination of the judges' results revealed some discrepancies. The French judge, Jézabel Dabouis, gave Madison Chock and Evan Bates a total score of 129.74 in the free dance, which was not only the lowest score awarded by the nine judges, but also over five points lower than the average score of the remaining eight judges. At the same time, Dabouis awarded Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron a total score of 137.45, which was the second-highest score awarded by the judges, but also almost three points higher than the average score of the remaining judges. While the Finnish judge also awarded Chock and Bates with a relatively low score, the judge's scores were relatively consistent among all of the couples.[28] A spokesperson from the International Skating Union (ISU) responded to the outcry: "It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations. The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness."[29]
Christine Brennan of USA Today lamented the results in a column: "What an awful message the sport of figure skating just sent to sexual abuse survivors and victims, and parents who want their children to participate in a safe sport."[30] Although the suspension of Nikolaj Sørensen had been overturned on procedural grounds, he remains under investigation, and was present in the arena on Wednesday night. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were observed waving to him and he whistled back.[30]
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