Gilles, Poirier open what could be their final season at Skate Canada International

This could be Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier’s final year on the ice, but they’re not treating it like a farewell tour.

As the Canadian ice dance veterans open their season this weekend at Skate Canada International in Saskatoon, their focus is fixed on one goal — bringing home a medal from the Milan-Cortina Games in February.

“This is an Olympic season, and this is an Olympics where we want to be on the podium,” Poirier said. “I don’t think we’re trying to contextualize it in our bigger career, whether it’s the last one or not.

“There’s already so many balls to keep in the air through an Olympic season. There’s so much happening, and there’s a lot of distractions that come in. There’s a lot of pressure that comes with the Olympics as well, and I think that is enough pressure to put on ourselves rather than worrying about anything beyond that.”

Now entering their 15th season together, Gilles and Poirier are firmly among the world’s best and genuine contenders for gold in Milan.

They’ve won medals at three straight world championships, claiming bronze in 2023 followed by back-to-back silver medals behind Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States.

Both Gilles and Poirier will be 34 in Milan, and though they’re focused on the present, longtime coach Carol Lane believes this season will be their last.

“I’d be very surprised if they decided to carry on,” she said. “This will be the end, yeah. This will be the last season. A lot of last things this year, so it’s very poignant and it makes you realize 14 years goes by in a blink.”

If it is indeed their last dance, there is a full-circle element to the season. Gilles and Poirier are revisiting their emotional and fan-favourite “Vincent” free dance program from 2018-19.

They want it to be clear, however, that this isn’t just recycling an old routine.

“We decided to call the program ‘Vincent Reimagined,’” Poirier said. “While the theme and the story and the music is familiar, there are a lot of changes … Seven years have passed. We’re different skaters, we’re different people.

“We really feel like it was a program that never reached its full potential and we felt that there was more to uncover with it. We also just felt like it is the perfect encapsulation of who we are as skaters, and that’s something we wanted to bring to the Olympic ice.”

Gilles and Poirier have already been to the Olympics twice. They finished eighth at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a moment Gilles describes as a proud celebration as first-time Olympians.

Things changed in 2022, when the Toronto-based duo entered the Olympic season after winning their first world championship medal. Expectations rose, but they placed seventh in Beijing.

“All the pressure of being on the podium going into Beijing was a lot for us,” Gilles said. “We just got our first world medal the year before, it was during COVID. I think there was just so much stress and I think among all of that, we forgot our ‘why.’

“We’ve changed as people and I think we aren’t trying to be great. We know that we’re great, we just have to rely on our confidence and rely on our training.”

As for what’s next, Gilles and Poirier are focused on Skate Canada International, where they could set a record with a sixth consecutive title at SaskTel Centre.

They’ve taken it one year at a time since the 2022 Olympics — a season many thought would be their last — and are trying not to look too far ahead.

“I don’t think the two of us even thought we were going to be going to this Olympics, to be honest,” Gilles said. “We’re just truly enjoying the work that we’re doing right now, so we’re not really focused on what’s happening then.”

Meanwhile, Lane is allowing herself to feel the weight of it all.

“I’m treating it as a celebration,” she said. “I shall be very sorry not to have them in the rink. They’ve been a delight, an absolute delight.

“It’s been an absolutely phenomenal experience, and I’m sure there’ll be lots of crying.”

DEFYING GRAVITY

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will finally give Canadian fans a live look at their history-making assisted backflip. The 2024 world champions became the first pair to land the move in competition earlier this season, the 42-year-old Stellato-Dudek defying her age as she catapulted backward with a lift from Deschamps during their short program. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps will compete in their second Grand Prix event after winning silver at the Grand Prix de France.

QUAD GOD

Ilia Malinin, the two-time defending men’s world champion of the United States, headlines a solid men’s field. Among the Canadians, reigning national champion Roman Sadovsky and the resurgent Stephen Gogolev will go head-to-head for the third time already this season.

HOT START

In the women’s event, 17-year-old Ami Nakai of Japan will look to win her second Grand Prix gold in as many outings after upsetting three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto in a stellar debut at the Grand Prix de France. Three-time national champion Madeline Schizas highlights the Canadians.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2025.