Winter Olympics French 'nip slip' ice dancer wins silver

Winter Olympics French 'nip slip' ice dancer wins silver

An ice dancer who suffered a 'nip slip' wardrobe malfunction during an Olympic routine recovered to break her own world record today - only for rivals to beat her score moments later. 

Gabriella Papadakis, 22, accidentally flashed her nipple when her glittering green costume unfastened while performing with her partner, Guillaume Cizeron, 23, at the Gangneung Ice Arena in South Korea in an earlier routine on Monday.

The French pair continued their bid for Olympic glory despite the setback and the show of professionalism won praise from dozens of fans and fellow skaters.

This morning, they put the incident behind them to break their own world record with a sensational final performance.

But incredibly, their lyrical free dance record total of 205.28 was eclipsed moments later, when Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir edged to the top of the podium by less than a point with a score of 206.07. 

Skating last to 'Moulin Rouge,' Virtue and Moir embraced and grinned on the ice after their dynamic performance that had the audience roaring. 

Moir told OBS, the official Olympics broadcaster afterwards: 'We have such respect especially for Gabriella and Guillaume. We're pretty happy with how things turned out, that's for sure.'

Yesterday, Papadakis won praise for her determination to finish her routine following the embarrassing episode.

One Twitter user described her as a 'class act' while another posted: 'I feel so bad for Gabriella Papadakis with that wardrobe malfunction during their ice dance short program. But I applaud her for pushing through and never giving up till the end!'

in that earlier performance, the pair produced a score of 81.93 points at the Gangneung Ice Arena, leaving them second behind Canadian stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

It has not been confirmed whether they had points docked for the mishap but the rules state losing any part of a costume, even a hair clip, can lead to a one-point deduction.

Papadakis was nearly in tears as she approached reporters after the routine, which is required of any Olympic competitor after competition

But she was in better spirits an hour later saying: 'It was pretty distracting, kind of my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics. I told myself, "I don't have a choice. I have to keep going," and that's what we did. I think we can be proud of ourselves being able to deliver a great performance with that happening.'

Meanwhile her partner Cizeron said it was 'frustrating' to have points taken off for something out of their control. 

'It's just a costume issue, something as stupid as that, so it's a little bit disappointing,' he said. 

It was the second wardrobe mishap during the skating program at the Pyeongchang Games. 

American-born ice dancer Yura Min, competing for South Korea, had the back of her costume come unclasped during her short program with partner Alex Gamelin in the team competition.