Seoul, South Korea (February 22, 2025) – Canada occupied two of the three spots on the ice dance podium on Saturday at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea.

Ontarians Piper Gilles (Toronto) and Paul Poirier (Unionville), who led the standings following Thursday’s rhythm dance, held on to their lead with a score of 131.24, successfully defending their ISU Four Continents Championships title with a season’s best total score of 218.46 points. They were accompanied on the podium by fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie (Boucherville, QC) and Zachary Lagha (Saint-Hubert, QC), who captured the second Four Continents bronze medal of their career, with 201.04 points.

Gilles and Poirier edged out the reigning world champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA (217.93), who finished the event in second place.

“We’re very proud of ourselves! It was a long day, and our skate was late in the evening. We were completely exhausted afterwards, but that’s because we gave it our all. We’re proud of what we accomplished here. When we arrived, we felt confident about the training we had done, and we felt prepared to skate our very best. Now we want to carry this over to the World Championships!” said Poirier, following the competition.

Bronze medallist Zachary Lagha also had to dig deep to reach the podium with his partner Marjorie Lajoie.

“Today felt like a battle. It’s always difficult to skate late in the day in Asia because of the jet lag. But although we made a few errors, we’ve improved since the Canadian Championships, and that’s what matters most. It’s not the first time we [share the podium with Gilles and Poirier]. In that sense, it feels just like a regular day at the office,” laughed Lagha.

Alicia Fabbri (Terrebonne, QC) and Paul Ayer (Brossard, QC) concluded the ice dance event in ninth place (166.49).

In the men’s event, Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, ON) finished tenth with 213.90 points. Matthew Newnham (Saint-Albert, AB) followed closely behind in twelfth place (205.34), while Aleksa Rakic (Burnaby, BC) wrapped up the event in sixteenth place (197.91). Mikhaiul Shaidorov of Kazakhstan captured the men’s gold medal with 285.10 points.

The ISU Four Continents Championships will conclude on Sunday with the women’s free program. The complete results of the ISU Four Continents Championship can be found here.