Gilles, Poirier sticking to their plan with gold in sight at figure skating worlds

Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada compete in the free dance event at the Skate Canada International figure skating competition in Halifax on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

With the top of the podium closer than ever, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are keeping to the same tried and true script.

Canada’s top ice dancers head into this week’s world figure skating championships in Boston with momentum following a breakthrough victory over their American rivals at last month’s Four Continents Championships.

Toronto’s Gilles and Poirier, from Unionville, Ont., edged two-time reigning champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates to win gold by 0.53 points.

The margins were razor-thin then, and they’re expected to be just as close this week.

“We’re going into this event very confident and believing in our abilities,” Poirier said in a recent conference call. “But I think that comes more from our training and our preparation than anything else.”

Veterans on the world stage, Gilles and Poirier, both 33, will compete in their 12th world championships.

The three-time medallists took bronze in 2021 and 2023 before earning silver last year in Montreal, where their free dance topped Chock and Bates — more than demonstrating they were ready to contend for gold this year and at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Years of experience have shown the duo what works and what doesn’t, Poirier said.

“We know exactly how we need to train and how to develop a program over the course of the season,” he said. “We know what sells and what does well, and what shows off our best skating.”

A key lesson has been learning to pace themselves over a long and demanding season.

“Many years we’ve gone into worlds and we’ve overtrained and haven’t skated our best, because we felt dead by the time we got there,” Gilles said. “We’re really confident in the preparation that we have for this event this time.”

That’s not to say there haven’t been low points this season.

They cruised to a gold medal at Skate Canada International in October to begin the 2024-25 campaign, but a decision to start off-season training two weeks earlier than usual led to fatigue later in the Grand Prix schedule.

Their following competitions — including the Grand Prix Final in December — featured uncharacteristic falls.

Gilles and Poirier rebounded with a stellar, confidence-boosting performance at Canadian nationals in January before delivering season-best scores at Four Continents, sticking to their “train but not overtrain” strategy.

That’s something they’ve tried to replicate in the month between Four Continents and worlds.

“We learned a lot coming out of nationals and going into Four Continents, just training-wise and how many run-throughs we have to do,” Gilles said.

“We have really just mimicked what we did there, because we felt confident and strong, and we felt like by the time we got to Four Continents we were rested and ready to push.”

At Four Continents, their 87.22 rhythm dance score — set to a Beach Boys, Ken and Barbie theme — gave them a 1.01-point advantage over Chock and Bates. Though the Americans won the free dance, Gilles and Poirier’s lead held firm for gold.

Italy’s Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri and Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson will also be aiming for the podium in Boston, while fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha look to improve on their fifth-place finish in Montreal last year.

The rhythm dance is set for Friday, followed by Saturday’s free dance.

Competition starts Wednesday afternoon with the women’s short program. Later Wednesday, Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will begin defending their world title in the pairs short program.

Canada has only one entry in each singles discipline — and neither are podium contenders.

Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., will skate in the women’s competition, headlined by three-time reigning champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., represents Canada in the men’s event, where American star Ilia Malinin will try to electrify the home crowd after a record-breaking free skate last year in Montreal.

Olympic opportunities are on the line. Schizas and Sadovsky need to finish in the top 10 for Canada to secure two quota spots in their respective disciplines at the 2026 Games.

Both skaters have finished as high as 12th, but Schizas placed 18th last year while Sadovsky was 19th.

“They’ve had good seasons. There’s been a lot of positive movement forward in their scores and placements,” said Skate Canada high-performance director Michael Slipchuk. “I think they’ve both put themselves in a really good position this week to be right in the thick of it with everyone else.”

The world championships at TD Garden will be hosted by the Skating Club of Boston in a time of mourning as it grieves the loss of six members who died in the mid-air plane collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29.

CANADA’S TEAM

Women — Madeline Schizas (Oakville, Ont.)

Men — Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, Ont.)

Pairs — Deanna Stellato-Dudek (Chicago) and Maxime Deschamps (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que.); Lia Pereira (Milton, Ont.) and Trennt Michaud (Trenton, Ont.); Kelly Ann Laurin (St-Jérôme, Que.) and Loucas Éthier (Deux-Montagnes, Que.)

Ice dance — Piper Gilles (Toronto) and Paul Poirier (Unionville, Ont.); Marjorie Lajoie (Boucherville, Que.) and Zachary Lagha (Saint-Hubert, Que.); Alicia Fabbri (Terrebonne, Que.) and Paul Ayer (Brossard, Que.)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2025.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press