Sawt Falasteen - Montreal ice dance academy churns out Olympic champions

That's because much of the world's top ice dancing talent has gravitated to a pioneering training site called the Ice Academy of Montreal.

"We came here not really knowing anyone so everything that we learned is from the people in here," said Britain's Lilah Fear, who moved to Montreal to train 10 years ago.

With her partner Lewis Gibson, she won a bronze medal at the World Championships in June, ending the UK's 40-year medal drought on the ice in an event where Britain won a memorable Olympic gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games through Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

The academy where they train, known as I.AM, is housed in the unassuming Gadbois sports complex, tucked into what was once a working-class neighborhood of Montreal.

Given the number of elite ice dancers who currently train at the facility, creating an ice time schedule for the different athletes is a complex effort.

With the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games just weeks away, the first athletes arrived at the arena at dawn on a recent morning for the first training sessions in a day that saw multiple prospective Olympians hit the ice.

The academy's head coach and co-founder, Romain Haguenauer, told AFP that I.AM could send about a dozen couples to the 2026 Games.

"It's an unheard-of figure in skating, but also across all sports," said Haguenauer, who competed on the national team for his native France before a coaching career that has spanned three decades.

The last three Olympic champions have all trained in Montreal and the academy's delegation at the upcoming Winter Games could surpass that of some countries, he said.

There have even been international competitions where the entire podium trained at I.AM.

- 'Loving environment' -

Founded in 2014, the Montreal academy has aimed to break away from the rigidity that once defined elite ice dance training.

The staff "care about who we are as human beings," Fear said, describing the environment as "nurturing and loving."

France's Guillaume Cizeron, the 2022 Olympic champion and five-time world champion, said the "healthy" environment in Montreal has kept him coming back to train in the Canadian city for over a decade.

"There's a skating culture here -- figure skating as well as ice hockey -- that enables high-level athletes to thrive," said the 31-year-old, who is trying to capture another gold in Italy with his new partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, a Quebec native who recently became French.

Cizeron and his former partner, Gabriella Papadakis, earned huge international success before splitting in 2024.

Papadakis has since accused Cizeron of being "controlling" and "demanding" in a memoir, allegations he has dismissed as a "smear campaign."

Speaking to AFP before the fracas with Papadakis, Cizeron and his new partner described the unusual atmosphere at I.AM -- where athletes who will soon be battling for the same medals share coaches and even an ice surface during pre-Olympic training.

Fournier Beaudry said "it's a bit like a team sport here, but at the same time, everyone remains an individual," noting that several athletes also spend time together away from the rink.

- Better than theater -

Signs of those friendships are hard to detect on the ice, where athletes maintain laser focus as they work through their carefully choreographed routines under close scrutiny from their coaches.

The Montreal academy also opens the bleachers to the public during training, which allows ice dance enthusiasts like Anne Belcourt-Lafleur to look on.

"It's more fascinating than a show," said the octogenarian, who attends practice two or three times a week.

Her brother, Marc Belcourt, was also on hand to watch.

"They've built an incomparable coaching team," he said.

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST