The ongoing sexual assault case against Canadian Olympic ice dancer Nikolaj Sørensen has a shocking update as the survivor of the assault has come public.
In interviews with Broken Ice and USA TODAY sports columnist Christine Brennan, Ashley Foy, a former United States ice dancer and currently a coach in the Netherlands, said that she “[does not] care what professional retaliation I face anymore. I can’t bear to face another person talking about this case to me not knowing I’m the victim.”
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Foy mentioned that she had originally not wanted to come forward due to experiences her friends suffered. She mentions that her childhood friend Bridget Namiotka died after being bullied for coming forward, while another friend Gabi Papadakis lost her job for a similar reason.
In 2024, amid the investigation into allegations of sexual assault against a then 22-year-old woman, Sorensen was banned from competing in ice dancing for six years. However, that ban was overturned in June 2025, but that decision is still being argued over by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada with a final decision yet to be announced.
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Sorensen’s ice dance partner and girlfriend Laurence Fournier Beaudry has expressed support for her partner, while Sorensen himself has denied all allegations.
In February 2026, following the release of the Netflix documentary “Glitter & Gold: Ice Dancing”, USA TODAY reported that Foy — still wishing to remain anonymous at the time — was unhappy with the documentary, believing it gave Fournier Beaudry a platform to defend Sorensen and denounce survivors of sexual assault.
Foy said, “The comments by the French team in the press and on a Netflix documentary create a dangerous environment for skaters who need to report abuse. The comments of the reigning Olympic champion and a team in contention for the upcoming Olympic title carry weight, and using their voices to publicly undermine a survivor’s truth further enforces the culture of silence in figure skating.”
No. Sorensen remained banned from competing while the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina were going on. Fournier Beaudry was forced to find a different partner in Guillaume Cizeron. The pair won gold, narrowly beating out Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
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Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of Team France take part during a training session on day minus one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on Feb. 5, 2026 in Milan, Italy.
Documents indicate that the alleged assault of Foy by Sørensen happened in 2012 when Foy, then 22, claims Sorensen, then 23, “held her down against her will on a bed and raped her after a party at a condominium near Hartford, Connecticut.”
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If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former U.S. ice dancer goes public in Nikolaj Sørensen sex assault case
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