Guillaume Cizeron

Personal life

Guillaume Cizeron was born on 12 November 1994 in Montbrison, Loire, France. His father, Marc, is president of the Auvergne Clermont Danse sur Glace skating club.

Cizeron studied fine arts in Lyon before moving to Canada. He relocated from France to Montreal, Quebec on 14 July 2014.

Early years and junior career

Papadakis and Cizeron teamed up when they were about 9 or 10 years old in Clermont-Ferrand at the suggestion of her mother, Catherine Papadakis, who coached them from the beginning of their partnership. They debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series in 2009–10, placing 15th at JGP United States. They were 22nd at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

In 2010–11, Papadakis/Cizeron finished 4th at JGP France and then won bronze at their second event, in Austria. They advanced to 12th at the 2011 World Junior Championships.

In 2011–12, Papadakis/Cizeron finished 4th at both of their Junior Grand Prix events. They rose to 5th at the 2012 World Junior Championships.

In mid-June 2012, Papadakis/Cizeron decided to move to Lyon to train with new coaches Muriel Zazoui, Romain Haguenauer, and Olivier Schoenfelder. They competed in their fourth season of the Junior Grand Prix, winning their first title at JGP France and then taking another gold medal at JGP Austria, where they scored their personal best of 142.08 points. Their wins qualified them for the 2012–13 JGP Final in Sochi, Russia. Papadakis/Cizeron won the silver medal in Sochi behind Russian ice dancers Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin. At the 2013 World Junior Championships in Milan, the French placed second in the short dance. On the day of the free dance, Papadakis sprained her ankle in an off-ice warm up before the morning practice. During the competition, she paused after 2:52 minutes and was allowed a medical break, after which she and Cizeron completed the dance. They placed third in the free dance and second overall, stepping onto the podium along with gold medalists Stepanova/Bukin and bronze medalists Aldridge/Eaton.

2013–14 season

Papadakis/Cizeron decided to move up to the senior level for the 2013–14 season. They made their senior international debut at the International Cup of Nice, winning gold. The duo then competed at two senior Grand Prix assignments, placing fifth at the 2013 Trophée Eric Bompard and seventh at the 2013 Rostelecom Cup. Initially named as alternates for the 2014 European Championships, they were called up when Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat withdrew. They placed 15th at the event, held in January in Budapest, and 13th at the 2014 World Championships, held in March in Saitama.

2014–15 season

In July 2014, Papadakis/Cizeron relocated with Haguenauer to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, and Pascal Denis joined Haguenauer as the duo's coaches. Their free dance was inspired by a ballet, Le Parc. The two began their season by winning an ISU Challenger Series event, the 2014 Skate Canada Autumn Classic, where they defeated Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier. In November, Papadakis/Cizeron reached their first Grand Prix podium, winning gold at the 2014 Cup of China ahead of Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani and 2014 World champions Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte. Beating Gilles/Poirier again, they took their second GP title at the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard and qualified for their first Grand Prix Final. At the latter event, held in December 2014 in Barcelona, they placed fifth in the short dance, third in the free dance, and third overall behind Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje and Madison Chock / Evan Bates.

In January 2015, Papadakis/Cizeron ranked first in both segments at the 2015 European Championships in Stockholm and took the gold medal by a margin of 8.45 points over the World champions, Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte. In March, they competed at the World Championships in Shanghai, China. Ranked fourth in the short dance and first in the free dance, they finished first overall ahead of Madison Chock / Evan Bates, whom they outscored by 2.94 points. They are the first French skaters to win a World title since 2008 and the youngest World champions in ice dance in 49 years.

2015–16 season

On 28 August 2015, Papadakis sustained a cerebral concussion after a fall in practice. According to Dubreuil, "They clipped each other's blades, and she fell right on her head. The symptoms were instant. We could see she was walking wobbly; she had trouble putting words together." Subsequently, Papadakis/Cizeron withdrew from the Master's de Patinage in Orléans scheduled in the second week of October. On 12 November 2015, they withdrew from their Grand Prix events, the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard and 2015 NHK Trophy. Doctors were uncertain about how long her recovery would take. In March 2016, Papadakis said, "I couldn't go out, skate, read, or have a conversation with people. It was impossible to concentrate. I still have some symptoms."

Papadakis/Cizeron returned to competition in December to win their second national title. The following month, at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava, Papadakis/Cizeron placed second to Italy's Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte in the short dance. They were first in the free dance and won their second consecutive European title. In March, a skate blade hit Papadakis' knee while she was practicing steps with Cizeron. According to Haguenauer, "Her knee was open, she had eight stitches but it's superficial" and she resumed training on 21 March. Papadakis/Cizeron placed first in the short dance at the 2016 World Championships in Boston, ahead of Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani of the United States. They set a world record score in the free program of 118.17, beating the previous world record held by Meryl Davis/Charlie White of the United States of 116.63 at the 2014 Winter Olympics. They won the competition with a personal best overall score of 194.46, 6.03 points ahead of Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani.

The duo withdrew from their final competition of the season, the 2016 Team Challenge Cup in April 2016, because Papadakis had a mild case of mononucleosis.

2016–17 season

Competing in the 2016–17 Grand Prix series, Papadakis/Cizeron won gold at the 2016 Trophée de France and silver at the 2016 NHK Trophy, behind Canada's Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir. In December 2016, they received the silver medal at the Grand Prix Final in Marseille, France, finishing second again to Virtue/Moir.

In January 2017, Papadakis/Cizeron won their third continental title at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Programs

(with Papadakis)

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Papadakis

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.

With Papadakis