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Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier led after Saturday’s rhythm dance at the Canadian figure skating championships.
The four-time national champions scored 93.11 points — setting a personal best at nationals — to RuPaul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work)” at Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau, Que., where they received a standing ovation.
“We just skated like we were at home,” Gilles said. “We just treated this run-through basically as a home run-through, and I think all the details and all the connection points that we’ve been working on over the last few weeks really felt like it was coming to life.
“Then hearing the crowd kind of interact with us a little bit, hype us up a bit, it was so special.”
Gilles and Poirier, who were silver medallists in the last two world championships, will compete in their third Olympics in February’s Milan Cortina Winter Games.
WATCH | Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier 1st after rhythm dance at nationals:
Canadian skaters Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier 1st after rhythm dance at nationals
Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier are in 1st place after the rhythm dance at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships with a score of 93.11.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, last year’s silver medallists at the Canadian championships, sat second with 86.93.
Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac were third with 78.64, only 0.59 ahead of Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer in a battle for Canada’s last Olympic spot.
Canada holds three ice dance entries for Milan. The full Olympic figure skating team will be announced Sunday after the free dance.
“By this time of the season, everybody is at the peak of performance, so you expect people to be that close,” Le Gac said. “We were expecting a good competition.”
Ayer and Fabbri led Lauriault and Le Gac by just 0.44 points after the rhythm dance at last year’s nationals before finishing third to make Canada’s world championship team.
“We knew it would come down to the free dance,” Ayer said. “Either way it went.”
“It makes it fun, too,” added Fabbri. “Sometimes you can be like, `Oh, we’re in front, or we’re too much back.’ But it’s almost like a fresh start tomorrow. We’ll just do our best and see what happens.”
WATCH | Gilles & Poirier embrace ‘mom & dad’ role on national team:
Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier embrace ‘mom & dad’ role on national team
Four-time national champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are competing in the national skating championships Jan. 9 – 11 in Gatineau, QC, to confirm their nomination to Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics. As 2-time Olympic ice dancers they’ve helped to guide and inspire the next generation of Canadian figure skaters with their Olympic journey.
The men’s free program was scheduled for later Saturday, followed by the women’s short and pairs free.
Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev led the men’s competition after Friday’s short program, while 2024 world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps ranked first in pairs.
