HELSINKI, FINLAND (Nov. 22, 2025) – The Canadian team shone brightly, winning two medals at the Finlandia Trophy, the sixth and final stop on the ISU Grand Prix series, which took place on November 21 and 22 in Helsinki.

Now qualified for Grand Prix Final, Piper Gilles (Toronto, Ont.) and Paul Poirier (Unionville, Ont.) delivered a stellar performance in the Finnish capital, earning a silver medal in ice dance. The reigning national champions and silver medallists at the 2024 World Championships had their best free dance of the season, receiving a score of 122.55, bringing their total to 202.11. Only France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron managed to do better with 204.18 points. The Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik finished third with 196.02 points.

“We are really proud of our performance today. We felt a lot of pressure after a free skate that fell short of our expectations at Skate Canada International, so we needed to prove to ourselves that we were capable of performing this program well. I think that’s what we accomplished today,” shared Paul Poirier.

Earlier, Stephen Gogolev (Toronto, Ont.) was the first Canadian skater to reach the podium. He finished third in the men’s event with a total score of 253.61, thanks to his free skate score of 164.26. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama (270.45) won the gold medal ahead of France’s Adam Siao Him Fa (256.98).

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with how I skated. Obviously, there are a few mistakes to correct, but I fought hard. […] I had never been in a podium position in a Grand Prix before and it affected me mentally, but I managed not to think about it too much, to focus on the present and to do the best I could,” said Gogolev.

Also in action, Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, Ont.) finished just behind his compatriot, taking fourth place with 243.29, a personal best this season.

Lia Pereira (Milton, Ont.) and Trennt Michaud (Trenton, Ont.) finished fifth in the pair competition. After a very close short program where only 0.06 points separated them from the podium and 0.36 points from first place, the Canadians ultimately achieved their best total of the season with 191.33 points. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won gold with 206.88 points. They were joined on the podium by American duos Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (205.49) and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (199.09).

In the women’s event, Madeline Schizas (Oakville, Ont.) finished fifth with her season’s best total of 188.60. Japan’s Mone Chiba (217.22) took gold, while Amber Glenn (213.41) of the United States and Rino Matsuike (193.21), also of Japan, completed the podium.

Full competition results for the Finlandia Trophy can be found here.