Ice Dancing Favorite After NSFW Wardrobe Malfunction: "It Was Pretty Distracting"

The French ice dancing team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron is our pick to win the event in Pyeongchang, but an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction today threatened to sink those chances, if not for Papadakis’s steely determination.

Papadakis told press after the performance that “it was pretty distracting... my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics.” She stated that she started to feel the costume falling apart, and “I prayed.”

NBC noted the wardrobe malfunction online, and Mike Tirico teased coverage of the post-competition press availability, which eventually aired in the U.S. during the late-night primetime plus coverage. The team could have halted their performance to quickly repair the uniform, but would have suffered a massive point deduction.

The indignity was only amplified by the IOC’s world feed, which actually provided a slow-motion replay of the costume mishap:

The French weren’t the only ones struggling with fussy ice dancing costumes; after a similar breakdown in costuming during the team performance, the Korean pair of Yura Min and Alexander Gamelin added a support strap to Min’s previously backless outfit for today’s performance.

After the short dance, Papadakis and Cizeron stand less than two points behind 2010 gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. Two U.S. teams sit in third and fourth place before tonight’s (err, “tomorrow’s”) decisive free dance competition.