Guillaume Cizeron had an incredible 2022 season. Along with his ice dance partner, Gabriella Papadakis, the duo — while still navigating the response to the COVID pandemic — won every major competition they entered, including gold at the Winter Olympics.
For his incredible year, Cizeron is Outsports’ Male Athlete Of The Year.
On top of all of the wins, Cizeron and Papadakis set a world record with their score in the short program at the Olympics, setting themselves up for their big gold-medal skate.
Cizeron had come out publicly as gay two years earlier, saying at the time, “What do I have to lose?”
While the Olympic gold was a dream come true, he also posted the morning after their big win thankful it wasn’t actually a dream:
Cizeron and Papadakis didn’t just win the Winter Olympics gold, they won every single competition they entered including the World Championships, and the Grand Prix in both France and Italy. In fact, since they took silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics, they have won every competition over the last four years except for the 2020 European Championships, where they took silver.
The two have been French national champions every year since 2014 (except 2021, when they did not compete). They opted out as they did not want to run any risk of getting COVID before the Olympics, and being forced out of the competition in Beijing.
For now, Cizeron and Papadakis have put a pause on their competitive skating, though they have not ruled out returning to the ice together to defend their gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
This is the third time a figure skater has won Outsports’ Male Athlete of the Year, following two wins by Olympic gold medalist Eric Radford.
You can follow Guillaume Cizeron on Instagram, as well as Twitter.
Previous Outsports Male Athlete of the Year winners:
2021: Tom Daley & Lee Pearson
2020: Strongman Rob Kearney
2019: 8 Out gay college football players
2018: Figure skater Eric Radford
2017: Rower Robbie Manson
2016: Boxer Orlando Cruz
