Sawt Falasteen - French ice dancers Papadakis, Cizeron win fifth world gold

Papadakis, 26, and 27-year-old Cizeron led all the way to seal gold after the free skating final with a new world record total of 229.82 points.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue took silver with 222.39, ahead of fellow Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, 216.83. The top three couples all train together in Montreal.

"It's one of the best competitions of our career, we felt incredible support, especially after the Olympics," said Cizeron after winning gold in Beijing behind closed doors.

"That's one of the reasons we love what we do so much. The goosebumps, the emotions that come with the noise, it's indescribable," he added.

Skating to 'Elegie' by Gabriel Faure the French scored 137.09 in the free skate to better their previous world record mark achieved three years ago.

They achieved world record scores in the rhythm dance and the free dance earlier in the competition.

Papadakis and Cizeron, also five-time European champions, overtake French legends Andree and Pierre Brunet, who won four world and two Olympic gold between 1926 and 1932.

They edge closer to the record of six world titles achieved by Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexandr Gorshkov competing for the Soviet Union between 1970 and 1976.

Russia were barred from competing following the invasion of Ukraine, with Olympic silver medallists Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov unable to defend their world title as a result.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST