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'Worst nightmare': Wardrobe malfunction distracts from great ice dance performance by French

A French ice dancer struggled throughout the routine to keep her top on.
France's Gabriella Papadakis and France's Guillaume Cizeron compete in the ice dance short dance of the figure skating event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo credit should read MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images)

A wardrobe malfunction in the ice dance short program Sunday night became a distraction for the skaters and viewers. But despite that, they finished near the top of the leaderboard.

It happened to the French team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron as they danced to songs by Ed Sheeran.

Early in the performance, Cizeron's hand brushed the back of Papadakis' neck, causing her top to come unfastened.

For the rest of the dance, Papadakis worked to keep her top on, which was then only being held on by two shoulder straps.

"It was pretty distracting. It was my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics," Papadakis said. "I told myself I didn't have the choice. I had to keep going and that's what we did and I think we can be proud of ourselves, too."

WATCH: No magical recipe for Papadakis and Cizeron, just hard work

They made it almost all the way through. But with about 12 seconds left in their dance, Papadakis' top slipped too far, giving viewers watching at home a little more of a show than they bargained for.

The accident took place when Papadakis threw herself backwards and her costume rode upwards in a revealing manner. The incident was shown live on international television and was later replayed on slow motion screens in the arena.

Papadakis had tears streaming down her face as she moved through the media interview zone, leaving her partner Cizeron to take most of the questions for her.

“It is just frustrating to miss a few points because of a costume issue,” Cizeron said. “It is not what we get ready for when we train. I am still proud that we managed to pull out a program like that even with a difficulty like this.

“We just look forward to a new day tomorrow and we have all our chances to win and we will just do our best.”

When USA TODAY Sports asked Papadakis if she was okay, the 22-year-old just said “not great,” with a sad laugh.

"I can't even describe not only how distracting that is but how disappointing it is that they had to perform that program with that distraction for themselves," said NBC ice dancing commentator Tanith White. "They are such exceptional skaters but, unfortunately, that was distracting throughout the program and it hurt them in their technical execution which is really where they shine."

White also mentioned that one of their coaches was seen sewing the top closed before the team went out on the ice.

It apparently didn't hurt them too much with the judges.They scored an 81.93 to put them less than two points behind leaders Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir from Canada.

​American teams Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, and Maia and Alex Shibutani are third and fourth going into Monday's Free Skate.

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