Gogolev takes bronze at Finlandia Trophy, Sadovsky impresses in fourth

HELSINKI — Stephen Gogolev jumped his way to his first Grand Prix medal on Saturday, but Roman Sadovsky served notice that the competition for Canada’s lone men’s figure skating spot at the 2026 Winter Olympics is going to be a fight.

Toronto’s Gogolev continued his resurgent season with a third-place finish in the men’s competition at the 2025 Finlandia Trophy. Later, ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier gave Canada another medal with a silver in ice dance and qualified for December’s Grand Prix Final.

The 20-year-old Gogolev, from Toronto entered the men’s free skate in second place after a clean short program on Friday. He was third in the free with a score of 164.26, just .22 points behind European champion and world bronze medallist Adam Siao Him Fa of France.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with how I skated,” Gogolev said. “Obviously, there are a few mistakes to correct, but I fought hard.

“I had never been in a podium position in a Grand Prix before and it affected me mentally, but I managed not to think about it too much, to focus on the present and to do the best I could.”

Sadovsky, who was sixth after the short program, closed the gap on the medallists in the free skate. The 26-year-old from Vaughan, Ont., had the fourth-best free skate to finish fourth overall with 243.29 total points, 10.32 behind Gogolev for the last podium spot.

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who was third heading into the free skate, dominated Saturday’s skate and finished first with 270.45 total points, ahead of Siao Him Fa (256.98) and Gogolev (253.61).

Gilles from Toronto, and Poirier, of Unionville, Ont., maintained the second position the held after Friday’s rhythm dance. Their free dance to “Vincent” by acoustid duo Govardo scored 122.55 points, to give the duo on overall total of 202.11

“We are really proud of our performance today,” said Poirier. “We felt a lot of pressure after a free skate that fell short of our expectations at Skate Canada International, so we needed to prove to ourselves that we were capable of performing this program well. I think that’s what we accomplished today.”

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France finished first in both dances to total 204.18 points. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik of the United States were third with 196.02.

Fournier Beaudry is from Montreal and previously represented Canada with Nikolaj Sorensen before his since-overturned six-year suspension for sexual maltreatment.

She teamed up with Cizeron, the 2022 Olympic champion, this season and the new partners won gold at the Grand Prix de France in October.

In other Canadian results, three-time Canadian champion Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., was fifth in women’s competition and Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., were fifth in pairs.

The Finlandia Trophy is the last of six events in the Grand Prix series, and the last chance to qualify for the Grand Prix Final — a midseason measuring stick for the top six in each discipline — set for Dec. 5-8 in Nagoya, Japan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2025.