Ice dancers Gilles, Poirier searching for answers as judging clouds Olympic season

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, of Canada, compete in the ice dance's free dance segment at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Piper Gilles shook her head as the scores popped up on the screen.

She and Paul Poirier had just delivered their cleanest free dance of the season at the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan. The kind of skate that has landed the Canadian duo on the world podium for three years running.

Yet the judges saw it differently — and the marks weren’t enough to bring home a medal.

“It definitely is disheartening. We can’t lie, we’re human,” Gilles said. “We skated two successful programs, and we emotionally and physically felt so in shape and powerful in those moments, (only) to kind of be left questioning what we’re doing, is it enough?”

The veteran ice dancers dropped from third after the rhythm dance to fourth following the free, finishing 0.06 points behind Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson in the season’s first head-to-head competition between the world’s top six teams.

In the kiss and cry, Gilles’ shaking head showed her frustration, and she wasn’t alone. Many fans and pundits felt the Canadians — known for their creativity and skating skills — should have finished ahead.

“You can see that the speed is just not as comparable to what Piper and Paul have,” said former Canadian skater Kaetlyn Osmond of the Brits on CBC Sports’ “That Figure Skating Show,” while giving them credit for being major performers.

“It looked extremely evident the difference in their skating qualities.”

After the event, Gilles posted a quote to social media about athletic truths being “diminished and manipulated by people with agendas,” and tagged the International Skating Union.

Her husband, Nathan Kelly, also replied to an ISU Instagram post, saying he was disillusioned with the results. And even the Gilles’ dog account chimed in, siding with another dog account that questioned the judging.

A couple days later, Gilles addressed her fans directly, saying she was grateful for her team, partner, family and supporters despite the disappointing result.

“The ISU and the state of ice dance can’t take any of those things from me!” she wrote.

Gilles admitted she felt some fear criticizing the sport’s governing body — she’d also questioned the judging at last month’s Finlandia Trophy after the technical panel’s scores puzzled much of the figure skating community — but she felt compelled to speak up.

“I felt like I needed to state that and let my emotions fly a little bit,” she said in a phone interview. “Having my dog comment on another dog, I think that was kind of a humorous play, but I understand how that could have looked bad.

“But I am proud about speaking out and sharing my concern because if no one does it, nothing will change.”

As Canada’s top hope for a figure skating medal at the Milan Cortina Games, the stakes are high for Gilles and Poirier as they compete in their 15th and possibly final season.

The two-time reigning world silver medallists entered the season with expectations for a podium spot — and a shot at Olympic gold. Now their marks have dipped almost 12 points behind defending world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, and even a medal isn’t a sure thing.

Poirier says vying for a place on the Olympic podium is already tough enough without second-guessing the judging system and wondering how the scoring is determined from one event to the next.

“The benchmark is always moving,” he said. “Makes it really difficult for us to understand where the room for improvement lies.

“The thing that we’re seeking the most, that the athletes are seeking the most, is clarity and consistency across events.”

Gilles pointed specifically to the grade of execution — the points awarded for how well technical elements are performed — as an area that varies from competition to competition.

“For a team like us to be on the world podium for the last few years, and striving to be world champions, I think we’re kind of at a loss as to where to go,” she said. “I know Paul and I and our coaches, we have a plan of attack going into the Olympics … But we have to keep skating for ourselves because we don’t really know what they want."

Gilles and Poirier aren’t the only skaters voicing concerns. French Olympic champion Guillaume Cizeron, who won silver at the GP Final with partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of Montreal, also spoke out after their rhythm dance at Finlandia Trophy.

“I see some strange games being played that are destroying ice dance,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a competition like this in my career, from a judging standpoint.”

Concerns about fairness in ice dance are hardly new. It is figure skating’s most subjective discipline, particularly vulnerable to politics and judging bias.

At the 1998 Nagano Olympics, one judge was recorded trying to predetermine the results, and the scandal that initially robbed Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of gold in 2002 allegedly stemmed from a vote-trading deal between a pairs judge and ice dance judge. That corruption hurt the sport’s credibility and prompted the introduction of a new judging system.

As the world’s biggest competition approaches, Gilles and Poirier are determined to stay positive.

Poirier said they’ve received feedback from various officials and have mapped out a “strong strategy” with Skate Canada and their coaches heading into the second half of the season.

“We’re really excited to move forward with that,” he said. “We have a really clear vision of who we are as skaters and what we want to present out on the ice, and so we want to create the best opportunity for ourselves at the Olympic Games.

“We have a nice chunk of time now to really take a step back, reassess the programs, figure out what’s working and what’s not working ... and slowly tick away at them one by one.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2025.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press