Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s dream season continued on Sunday at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai, China. Gilles and Poirier perform during the senior ice dance free program at the Canadian figure skating championships in Calgary on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
SHANGHAI – Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s dream season continued on Sunday at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai, China.
The Canadians won their first ISU Championships title in the ice dance competition.
Montreal’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Danish-Canadian partner Nikolaj Soerensen captured silver for the second year in a row.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of the United States captured the bronze medal to round out the podium with a total score of 194.14.
Toronto’s Gilles and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., led the competition from start to finish, making their performance to “Wuthering Heights” look effortless in their free skate, earning a score of 128.87 and a total score of 214.36.
Skating a dramatic love story to “Notre Dame de Paris,” Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen earned a season’s best free skate score of 125.52 for a total of 207.54 — enough for a second silver of the season.
Canadian skaters had all three of the top scores in the free dance as Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Ste-Anne-des-plaines, Que., scored 119.57 for their performance to “Corpse Bride.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2024.
