Gilles & Poirier Secure Fifth Consecutive Skate Canada International Title
Halifax, CAN (October 27, 2024) – The Canadian ice dance team of Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier secured their fifth straight Skate Canada International (SCI) ice dance title on Sunday at the Scotiabank Center in Halifax, N.S. They were joined on the podium by teammates Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha who secured silver.
Gilles of Toronto, Ont. and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., who are the reigning World Championships silver medallists, delivered a flawless free dance to lock up the gold medal with a total score of 214.84.
“We’re really proud of ourselves. We felt so calm and comfortable,” said Gilles following the event. “There’s just something so special about Skate Canada International – we want to skate well here, and I think we did that today. Now we’re going to put that in our back pocket and know we can skate confident and clean like we did here and keep working for more.”
Skating right before Gilles and Poirier, Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., received a standing ovation from the Canadian crowd for their performance to “The Sound of Silence” which secured them the silver medal with a total score of 199.90.
“After yesterday we just wanted to concentrate on today and I think that’s why we were able to perform really well because we were just focused on the moment,” said Lajoie as she referenced the small error Lagha had yesterday in their rhythm dance. “This music really talks to me and I really, really like it. I think it can touch every person.”
Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France rounded out the podium capturing bronze with a total score of 194.25. Alicia Fabbri of Terrebonne, Que., and Paul Ayer of Brossard, Que., finished eighth with a total score of 174.45.
Reigning World Champion Ilia Malinin of the United States absolutely dominated the men’s competition, winning gold for the second weekend in a row with a total score of 301.82 – over 40 points ahead of the silver medallist, Shun Sato of Japan who scored 261.16. Junhwan Cha of South Korea took bronze with a total score of 260.31.
Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C. was the top Canadian finisher, moving up from sitting 9th after the short program to finish seventh overall with a total score of 222.49.
“I felt confident that I’d done enough in training but putting it into competition I was a little bit more nervous than yesterday, so it was a good feeling to do what I did (today),” said Rakic who finished 12th at SCI last year. “Getting this score, last year or two years ago, I would have had to be absolutely perfect. Here, I had mistakes and missed elements, so I know I can get even more points (in the future).”
Stephen Gogolev of Toronto finished 9th overall, while Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., was forced to withdraw from the competition due to injury.
The ISU Grand Prix circuit continues at the Grand Prix de France, taking place in Angers, France from November 1-3, 2024.
For full results please click here.