Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are cool, calm, and collected as they head to their fifth career—and fourth straight—ISU Grand Prix Final.
But if you think they take for granted at this stage in their career that they are among the top six ice dance teams in the world, think again.
“Every year we plan our schedule as if we will be there, but it’s definitely still an accomplishment, so we’re really proud of that,” Poirier said in a recent interview. “And even though the Grand Prix in Finland didn’t go exactly how we wanted I think we’re still happy with the start of the season that we’ve had so far.”
It did start very successfully with their fifth straight Skate Canada International title, from which their score ranks them third in the season best standings. But the reigning world silver medallists then had an uncharacteristic stumble at Finlandia Trophy, where Poirier lost his footing at the end of a twizzle sequence in their free dance. It resulted in them not standing on the top step of a Grand Prix podium for the first time since the fall of 2021.
They didn’t panic about that fluke accident, though, because it was, well, a fluke. Instead, they spent the couple of weeks between competitions focused on small changes they hope will increase their scoring potential when they face all their top international competitors for the first time this season.
Gilles and Poirier were not the only highly ranked ice dance team to take a fall this fall; far from it, in fact. The two teams they shared the world championship podium with—Americans Madison Chock & Evan Bates and Italians Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri—each placed second in one of their Grand Prix events. It’s made ice dance feel more unpredictable than it has in recent years.
Gilles believes that should make the Grand Prix Final fun and exciting for fans and skaters alike.
“Our confidence is still there. We just know that we had a couple hiccups and so did everyone else,” she noted. “The top three teams in the world had those same little hiccups and it just goes to show that we’re human, not robot athletes. These things happen and I think it’s kind of been exciting to see this new generation challenge athletes like us to bring our A game.”
Among that next generation forcing the older guard to be at their best are fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, who are qualified for the Grand Prix Final for a second straight year. But facing tough competitors within Canada is nothing new for Gilles and Poirier, who from the start of their career together were skating against teams such as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as well as Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje.
“Canada has such a strong ice dance contingent and it forces us to be at our best all the time, as much as we can. I think it’s really motivating and it’s great to be part of a strong team, especially as we head closer and closer to the Olympics that we feel like we’re all working together and striving for the same thing,” said Poirier.
Having two top six teams gives Canada a great chance to qualify the maximum three ice dance spots for the next Olympic Games. Most figure skating quotas available for Milano Cortina 2026 will be allotted based on results at the ISU World Championships in March 2025. If the placements of Canada’s top two ice dance teams add up to 13 or less, that gives the country the three Olympic spots.
The months between the Grand Prix Final and those incredibly important world championships will not be spent idly.
In mid-January, Gilles and Poirier will look to win their fourth national title before going for gold at the ISU Four Continents Championships in late February. There will then be less than four weeks until the worlds, a shorter time frame than in recent years, which leaves them hopeful they can ride some momentum all the way to the end of the season.
“We won the free dance at worlds last year and I think that’s something we are striving for this year,” said Gilles. “Going to the Olympics, we want to be in those medal contenders, so I think we really need to establish ourselves with those competitions.”
Since 2022, Gilles and Poirier very deliberately took a season-by-season approach, not wanting to prematurely determine their competitive futures.
But they know now that Milano Cortina 2026 is the destination in mind.
“As we went into the season, it seemed hard to picture a world where we completed the season and felt we didn’t want to do the Olympic season,” said Poirier. “So, we’re really treating a lot of these events as stepping stones towards that. Of course, we are still really focused primarily on this season, not looking too far forward and really just trying to see how much we can squeeze out of this season in terms of experience and growth and enjoying performing more than anything.”
Plans to again participate in several skating tours after the world championships means their off-season in the summer of 2025 will be very short, so they have started exploring what their Olympic programs might be.
“I think we feel the most comfortable knowing going into something that we have options. And I think what’s gonna be the most difficult for us is choosing a program that’s going to be eligible to be on TV,” Gilles explained, noting that skaters are fully responsible for ensuring they have the rights to edit and perform to the music they select.
When classical music in the public domain was the norm, the clearance of music rights wasn’t a concern. But issues have arisen more recently, in part because of an active push within figure skating for more modern music to be used and, at the same time, more competitions are being streamed and more programs are available for perpetual online viewing.
Gilles and Poirier are mindful of giving themselves the time needed to navigate a new process for music approvals.
“You don’t want to be scrambling through that process in June when you already want to be choreographing your program,” said Poirier.
They came into this season with two strong programs for which their enthusiasm has not waned.
“Paul and I thrive when we feel excited and like our inner creative person is being fed,” Gilles reflected. “We go into practice like we know that we can deliver these programs because we 100% believe in them.”
They’ve been having fun with their Barbie and Ken-inspired rhythm dance to music by the Beach Boys, fulfilling the requirement to showcase social dances of the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s. In a sign of their creative flair, they had four costumes created and have been enjoying keeping everyone guessing as to which ones will be worn when. They’ve considered polling fans about which outfit they want to see on the ice.
Their free dance has a vastly different vibe. Adapted from a program they performed to Annie Lennox’s cover of “Whiter Shade of Pale” during Stars on Ice this past spring, it is a vehicle to showcase what some might call old school ice dance with lots of in-hold steps and tango movements.
“We grew up in a very different time of ice dance, where we competed compulsory dances as a separate event to a very high level and for a very long part of our careers, so we enjoy the complexities that come with it,” explained Poirier.
“It’s been a really interesting exercise, and I think something that we’ve really enjoyed doing. And I think it’s a very different program construction-wise from the free dances we’ve had the last few years. That’s nice for us. We thrive on variety and we thrive on new challenges, so we always want to be putting ourselves in a space where we’re doing something new or that we haven’t done for a while.”
And if you’re going to try something new and take a few risks, the pre-Olympic season is the time to do it.
The ISU Grand Prix Final takes place December 5-8 in Grenoble, France.
