MILAN, ITALY (Feb. 6, 2026) – Canada’s Olympic figure skating team currently finds themselves in fifth place after the first day of qualifiers in the team event, which opened the competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Piper Gilles and partner Paul Poirier were the first to take the ice for Canada, skating in the rhythm dance. They put out a strong performance with their runway-inspired routine, earning a score of 85.79—good for fourth place and 7 points towards Team Canada’s score in this event.

“I think every person’s role is really important,” Poirier said after their skate. “That’s what’s so special about the team event is everybody has a role and everybody contributes.”

Finishing ahead of them was Team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates in first, with 91.06 points. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron came second (89.98) and Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson finished third (86.85).

Next to take the ice for Team Canada was Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, making their Olympic debut in the pairs short program. Pereira and Michaud replaced former world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps after Stellato-Dudek suffered an accident in training. They scored 68.24, finishing fourth overall for another 7 points towards Team Canada’s score.

“I’m proud of both of us for handling the nerves, handling our first team event together,” said Pereira. “We really felt the support from the box and the crowd, and I’m still happy with our performance even though we had a few little mistakes.”

Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara finished first with a score of 82.84. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia finished second (77.54) and Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii finished third (76.65).

Closing out this first day of competition was the women’s short program. Canada’s Madeline Schizas, in her second Olympic appearance, scored 64.97 with her The Lion King-inspired routine after a technical issue with her program music forced her to reset. She finished sixth overall, earning another 5 points for Team Canada.

“I don’t think it made a difference, I think I would have skated the same either way,” said Schizas. “Obviously, at the Olympics you hope things like this don’t happen, but we all as athletes know how to deal with it.”

“I’m happy with my performance today,” she added. “I think that I skated my elements very well and ultimately as well as I could have.”

Rounding out the top three in the short program is Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto who finished first with 78.88 points, followed by Team USA’s Alysa Liu (74.90) in second, and Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann (71.62) in third.

Team Canada currently sits fifth in the team event with a total of 19 points. Competition resumes Saturday at 1:45 am ET with the men’s short program, where Canada will need to maintain its position to secure a spot in the next round of the team event, as only the top five nations advance.

For full results, click here.