France's Papadakis, Cizeron open lead at Olympic ice dance

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Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron broke their own world record in the rhythm dance at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday night, scoring 90.83 points to give the four-time world champs from France a cushion over Russian rivals Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov heading into the free dance.

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Papadakis and Cizeron finished second four years ago in Pyeongchang, where many believe they deserved the gold medal over Canada's now-retired Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. And they certainly appear intent on making it to the top step of the podium this time.

Sinitsina and Katsalapov, the reigning world champions, scored 88.84 points to stay within striking distance of gold.

Then came the U.S. contingent: Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, who just missed the medals four years ago, scored 87.13 points to their "Rhythm Nation" program while Madison Chock and Evan Bates scored 84.14 points as they try to finally crack the podium in their third Olympics together.

The free dance to decide the medals is scheduled for Monday.

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, of France, perform their routine in the ice dance competition during figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

The two American teams are already assured of at least one medal from Beijing after helping take silver in the team event last week. That could eventually be upgraded to gold depending on the outcome of a Russian doping inquiry.

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin, who were late arriving to Beijing and did not take part in the team event, were the first to post