Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron set new rhythm dance world record en route to lead in ice dance

Saturday nights are meant for dancing.

Even at the Olympics, as the the ice dance kicked off tonight (12 February) with the rhythm dance inside the Capital Indoor Stadium at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, with four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France showing exactly how it's done by setting a new world record score of 90.83 points.

They're around two points clear of reigning world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the ROC, who bettered their own personal best by just over a tenth of a point, scoring 88.85, but couldn't match the French duo's brilliance.

Papadakis and Cizeron were Olympic silver medallists in 2018 and are looking to go one step up on the podium here in Beijing.

Citing limited training conditions and difficulty traveling, Papadakis and Cizeron scaled back their competition schedule since the outset of the global pandemic. They did, however, win both their Grand Prix events this season - while also registering the highest score of any team, a 221.05 at the French Grand Prix.

Speaking to Olympics.com in the mixed zone, Cizeron said: "I think it wasn't perfect, but it was a really good moment for us on the ice. It's been a long time since we've given that much pleasure while skating, and that was our goal – to just live in the moment and have a great experience.

"Four years ago [when the duo had a costume issue and finished second], it was kind of a nightmare, and here it was very enjoyable."

Papadakis added: "The past four years, we've been focusing on [this] event, basically, even though we had other competitions, all the decisions that we did was for this event, so it was definitely in our mind and something to juggle, but it's what sport is