All 3 Canadian ice dance teams qualify for Olympic free dance

All three Canadian teams have qualified for the free dance portion of the ice dance competition at the Beijing Olympics, but a slight bobble on a twizzle will make it tough for Canada's top team of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier to make it to the podium.

The top 20 of the 23 pairs that competed in Saturday's rhythm dance made it through to the free dance, which is scheduled for Monday morning Beijing time.

The 2018 Olympic silver medallists and four-time world champions from France, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, are leading the pack after scoring a season's best and world record 90.83 in the "street style" rhythm dance to a medley of John Legend songs.

WATCH | Papadakis, Cizeron score world record in rhythm dance:

Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the Russian Olympic Committee sit in second place after scoring 88.85 on their rhythm dance to a funk and soul medley, while Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States are in third after scoring 87.13 points with their Janet Jackson medley.

Gilles and Poirier, the current world bronze medallists, are sitting in sixth place going into the free dance after their rhythm dance to an Elton John medley. Their score of 83.52 was below their season best of 85.65 and reflected a bobble by Gilles on the twizzles, a required element where the two skaters spin in unison while crossing the ice. 

After their skate, Gilles said she was "disappointed" in the bobble but felt the pair started better compared to the team figure skating competition.

"I thought our energy level was a bit better today," Gilles told the CBC's Elladj Baldé.

Poirier called the bobble "one of those things where you have to put it behind you."

WATCH | Canadians Gilles, Poirier in 6th place after rhythm dance:

Fellow Canadians Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen scored a season best 78.54 skating to a George Michael medley to sit in eighth place. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha are sitting in 13th after scoring 72.59, slightly under their season best of 74.45.

The Olympic gold medallists from 2018, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, have joined the CBC Olympics team for Beijing 2022 as special analysts for the Olympic ice dance competition.

Of Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen, who are ranked tenth in the world and skating at their first Olympics, Virtue said: "They skated with a lot of self-assurance. They seemed to immediately find the flow they wanted."

Soerensen noted the difficulty in having arrived in Beijing more than a week ago, and yet only competing today, on Day 8 of the Games.

"It's been a long time coming," he told Baldé. "It felt really good today to break the ice and finally compete."

Of Lajoie and Lagha, the 2019 world junior champions, Moir said: "This is the team that we're all going to be watching in 2026," referring to the next Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.

"There's such gumption," Virtue added. "They are totally fearless on the ice." 

WATCH | Complete rhythm dance event replay:

Canada's ice dancers have a strong legacy to follow. Virtue and Moir, the two-time Olympic ice dance champions, dominated their sport in the 2000s, winning Olympic gold on home ice in Vancouver in 2010 and then again in 2018 in Pyeongchang, along with a silver medal in Sochi in 2014.

Virtue and Moir were also part of the Canadian figure skating team that won silver in the team event when it made its debut in Sochi, and then gold in 2018. The pair retired from competitive skating a year later.

Monday's free dance will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.