Canadian ice dance has entered a new chapter. Following a spring of partnership changes, four new teams are taking shape, bringing fresh chemistry and ambitious goals into the 2026-2027 season. While each partnership is still in its early days, the excitement for the season ahead is already building.

Keep reading to get to know the fresh ice dance teams representing Canada this year.

Sandrine Gauthier & Paul Ayer

Sandrine Gauthier

• Previous partner: Quetin Thieren
• Previous country: Canada
• Career highlights: 2x Canadian junior silver medallist

Paul Ayer

• Previous partner: Alicia Fabbri
• Previous country: Canada
• Career highlights: 2x Canadian bronze medallist

What were your first impressions of each other?

Paul: “My first impression of Sandy was that she had amazing energy and that she was someone I could work hard with every day for four years.”

Sandrine: “For me, we’re just having fun working together. It’s not hard being on the ice…it’s normal and fun.”

How have the first few weeks of training been going?

Sandrine: “Actually really good. We’re just having fun, enjoying the process and enjoying learning together, how to skate with each other, and how to perform with each other.”

Paul: “It’s also been super busy. Every session we have a list of like 10 things that we need to get done. It’s really refreshing to constantly have new stuff to work on.”

What are the biggest strengths your partner brings to the team?

Paul: “The biggest strength for Sandy is her work ethic and being very kind. She’s a genuinely kind person that I really relate to in that sense.

Sandrine: “Paul is really good with the little details. He knows to ‘put the hand there’ or ‘put the head there,’ and it makes a really big difference.”

What are your goals for the season?

Paul: “To win Nationals.”

What is something fans may not know about you?

Paul: “I love to river surf, and I got my scuba license this year.”

Sandrine: “I like to do my nails for competitions.”

Alicia Fabbri & Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko

Alicia Fabbri

• Previous partner: Paul Ayer
• Previous country : Canada
• Career highlights: 2x Canadian bronze medallist

Marko Jevgeni Gaidajenko

• Previous partner: Solene Mazingue
• Previous country: Estonia
• Career highlights: 2x Estonian national champion

What were your first impressions of each other?

Marko: “It was fun because the first time we tried skating together it was a ‘mix and match’ situation – we had five guys and five girls on the ice. The moment we skated together it was so comfortable and so natural.”

Alicia: “It’s been really nice. We work really similarly and our lines match well. And we get along pretty well! So that’s good.”

What are three words you would use to describe each other?

Alicia: “Outgoing, funny, and happy”

Marko: “Funny, caring, and supportive.”

What are the biggest strengths that your partner brings to the team?

Marko: “I think Alicia’s biggest strength is how she can connect with one another. This connection on the ice helps to stay calm and keep everything grounded no matter what’s happening. She adds such a nice level of flow.”

Alicia: “It’s been really amazing. In moments where it’s uncomfortable or new, he makes me feel super calm. He has a very calming presence while at the same being very outgoing, so it’s a perfect mix.”

What are your goals for the season?

Marko: “Our goal for the season is to get as good as possible. Our final destination is World Championships for Canada. That would be great; we’ll try our best to make it.”

Alicia: “There’s a really great opening right now in Canada. We just need to do what we do best, just skate and show that we’re ready early. Hopefully, we’ll get international competitions and then make it to Worlds at the end of the season.

Marjorie Lajoie & Jean-Luc Baker

Marjorie Lajoie

• Previous partner: Zachary Lagha
• Previous country: Canada
• Career highlights: 4x Canadian silver medallist, 2x Four Continents bronze medallist

Jean-Luc Baker

• Previous partner: Kaitlin Hawayek
• Previous country: United States
• Career highlights: 4x American bronze medallist, 2018 Four Continents Champion

What were your first impressions of each other?

Marjorie: “My first impression of JL when we started skating together was how good he is at communicating and how nice he is – he’s always making sure that I’m doing okay.”

Jean-Luc: “As everyone knows – and I got to experience firsthand – she’s a ray of sunshine. She’s so open as a person to grow and to become better.”

What are three words you would use to describe your partner?

Jean-Luc: “Joyful, dedicated, and competitive.”

Marjorie: “Creative, hardworking, and passionate.”

For Jean-Luc, what drew you back to skating?

Jean-Luc: “From the moment I stopped skating, I knew that I missed it. I missed the pressure; I missed the feeling of freedom. I didn’t really miss the stress, but I missed connecting with yourself so deeply and being able express emotions that are really hard to put into words.

Connecting with somebody on such an intense level, in such intense moments, and being able to share those emotions with so many people in an arena – I missed that. You don’t get it anywhere else in life. I knew there was still some juice in the tank, and I wanted to explore that.”

What are your goals for the season?

Marjorie: “Our main goal is to create something. Both of us are really grateful to skate and to skate together. We want to be able to make people be in the moment, enjoy watching us skate and come into our world.”

Jean-Luc: “Creating moments every time we step foot on the ice together, that’s the core or our root of what we want. In terms of tangible goals, we’d love to become national champions this year here in Canada. We want to be pushing for Four Continents medals. We really would love to be in your top 8 at the World Championships.

These are tall orders – maybe unrealistic – but if we don’t reach for those types of things then we’re definitely not going to get them.”

Hannah Lim & Zachary Lagha

Hannah Lim

• Previous partner: Ye Quan
• Previous country: South Korea
• Career highlights: 3x South Korean Champion

Zachary Lagha

• Previous partner: Marjorie Lajoie
• Previous country: Canada
• Career highlights: 4x Canadian silver medallist, 2x Four Continents bronze medallist

Hannah, how does it feel competing again for Canada?

Hannah: “Representing Canada, I just feel at home again. It’s such a great and amazing feeling. I loved representing Korea; Korea is like my second home. My parents are Korean and I’ve been immersed in Korean culture. But at the root and at the core, I’m Canadian. It’s such a nice feeling – my heart is warm.”

What are the biggest strengths that your partner brings to the team?

Zachary: “I think that Hannah has a very powerful presence on the ice and she feels a lot when she skates. I’m very interested to see what that’s going to do in competition – I think that it’s also going to change my skating.”

Hannah: “I think for Zak, he has a lot of good skating skills and good technique…a lot of knowledge, which I lack in. I feel like I started pretty late and I didn’t get the hang of the basics…I just kind of figured my way out of it. I think that Zak having all that knowledge, and technique and skills will really bring my skating itself up.”

How do your respective dance and gymnastics backgrounds help you on the ice?

Hannah: “I think our ballet backgrounds help a ton during skating, especially with the lines and the way we shape our bodies, even the ways our hands finish and our heads move – it really helps.

With gymnastics, it was a lot about flexibility. Because of rhythmic gymnastics, I’ve kept my flexibility up until now and I’m so grateful that I did that because now I can do crazy positions in lifts and other moves.”

Zachary: “I have a pretty strong ballet background. I also studied contemporary dance at Concordia. I felt like I never really had to showcase that on the ice which I hope that I can now do.

I also have a piano background. It helps with musicality and training methods. In piano, there’s a saying, ‘practice like a snail and play like a gazelle.’ It’s kind of the same in skating where if you try to rush things up and go faster than you actually can, your body will never learn the right motions, and you will always learn bad habits.”

What are three words you would use to describe your partner?

Zachary: “Intense, life-loving, and Scorpio.”

Hannah: “Aries, perseverance, and caregiver.”