France's Papadakis, Cizeron retain ice dance world crown

The French pair backed up their first place finish in the short dance with a record score in the free dance, posting the second highest total of all-time at 194.46 points on the way to the title.

(Reuters)

Becoming the first ice dance couple to retain the title since 2007, the duo posted the highest scoring free dance (118.17) in international competition under the scoring system implemented in 2005.

Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White's 195.52 from the Sochi Olympics is the only better total, but Davis and White lost their free-dance world record.

"I could not be happier to pass that along to them," White said on Icenetwork.com. "I was just in awe the entire programme. I’ve never seen anything like it."

Four Continents champions Maia and Alex Shibutani took second place with 188.43, while 2015 world silver medallists Madison Chock and Evan Bates clocked up 185.77 points to take third for the USA.

(Reporting by Ben Everill in Los Angeles, editing by Nick Mulvenney)