Grenoble, France (December 6, 2024) – The senior ice dance competition at the ISU Grand Prix Final kicked off Friday in Grenoble, France and saw Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha post the top Canadian result after an uncharacteristic fall by Paul Poirier left he and Piper Gilles in sixth place.

Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., came into the competition fresh off silver medal performances at Skate Canada International and the Cup of China and skated first with their Austin Powers inspired rhythm dance. They posted a score of 77.73 to finish the day ranked fourth.

“We’re very happy, it was really good. We just had fun. We would much rather do our best performance and then score whatever, then feel like we didn’t do our best and get an amazing score,” said Lagha as he referenced their performance at Skate Canada International where they felt they didn’t skate as well but received a higher score.

Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., came into the competition ranked third in the Grand Prix standings after capturing their fifth-straight Skate Canada International title and a silver medal at the Finlandia Trophy, but after Poirier caught his foot on the board and fell during their rhythm dance, the team scored a 72.15 to finish the day ranked sixth.

“You never want to come out and make large errors so that’s disappointing for us, but we have to focus on the job for tomorrow and I think when we get home, focus on the positives of this event – there were some improvements that were made in the program,” said Poirier following the competition. “When we get home, we’ll look at how we’re training and making sure that we’re prepared to not make mistakes in competition when we go into the second half of the season.”

The reigning World Champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA, are sitting in first heading into the free dance on Saturday with a score of 87.73. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy sit second (83.12), while Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain sit third (82.31).

The competition wraps up tomorrow with the senior free dance and the junior pair free program for the Canadian team.

For full results please click here.