Worlds 2025: 'We hope to create another memorable moment'
Boston has already been a special place for Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Now the Canadian ice dancers are aiming for even bigger glory this week
It was 10 days ago that Piper Gilles took us all on an Instagram trip down memory lane. With a video clip from back in 2019, when she and ice dance partner Paul Poirier won their first Skate Canada International title.
Yeah, they were more than just a little bit pleased about it all.
“You never forget your first big win!!” Gilles wrote about the video, which naturally got one to wondering … is this maybe a foreshadowing of another ‘first big win’ of another kind? Say, in a few days from now.
For the record, the post referenced above went up on March 15 — exactly two weeks before the free dance final at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, which begin Wednesday at TD Garden in Boston. And Gilles and Poirier have themselves positioned to bring Canada its first world crown in ice dance since Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir back in 2017 in Helsinki.
Certainly, that was the thought back in February, when Gilles and Poirier finished in front of two-time World champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States at the Four Continents Championships in South Korea. They’d also topped their American rivals in the free dance at 2024 Worlds in Montreal, though the Americans did take the gold in the end.
Not that any of this has changed the thinking of the the Toronto-based duo, who get started in Boston on Friday with the rhythm dance (and one more rendition of their crowd pleasing ‘Barbie and Ken go to the beach’ themed program, skated primarily to Beach Boys music).
“I don't know if it's something that’s really changed our mindset too much going into this event. We’ve been training so confidently since the end of the Grand Prix season. Really, things have gone to plan the way that we want to,” Poirier, 33, said during a pre-Worlds conference call. “We knew exactly how we wanted to develop the programs through the second half of the season. So I definitely think we’re going into this event very confident and believing in our abilities, but I think that comes down more to our preparation more than anything else.”
Certainly, though, Gilles and Poirier — who train under the direction of Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs and Jon Lane at Ice Dance Elite in Toronto’s east end — are riding a wave of momentum coming into this event (and we’re not just talking beach waves here). And that goes beyond the back-to-back triumphs at the Canadian Championships in January and Four Continents. Rather, it’s more about the quality of skating they’re producing on the ice.
Let’s flash back to December for a moment, all the way back to the Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, when Poirier’s freak fall — he clapped one of his skates against the boards in the rhythm dance — scuttled any hope of a medal, even though they’d go on to post the second-best free dance score there (they had also missed out on a gold medal at the Grand Prix event in Finland because of a stumble in the free dance).
It led to a little bit of soul searching and some re-evaluation of what they were doing. But whatever they discovered, Gilles and Poirier haven’t put a foot wrong ever since, and it showed at Canadians in Laval, Quebec, and then again in Seoul about a month later (where they produced season’s best scores across the board: 87.22, 131.24 and 218.46). Although Poirier says it didn’t involve something as deep as you might think.
“The way that our season was set up, we were kind of running around and didn’t have time to develop the programs the way that we wanted to,” he explained. “So we really had the time after the Grand Prixs to take a proper break and also just take some time to make some adjustments to the program and expand them where they needed to be expanded. But that’s just something that we’ve learned over time; we know it works. We know what sells and what does well and what shows off our best skating, so it was really a luxury of time more than anything.
“Just having the time and having the energy to do those things. We started this season a good deal earlier than the previous two seasons, especially right after the (2022) Olympics. we took a really long break and didn't start until the middle of summer. This year, we started a good deal earlier and so getting to the end of the Grand Prix circuit, we were quite tired. So I think more than anything, it’s been nice to have a little bit more space between the events to rest and take care of ourselves.”
Gilles also jumped on that theme, saying the spacing between Canadians and Four Continents, and then that event and Worlds, lines up just right for them. And they believe they’re trained exactly the way they need to be to take on the challenge at TD Garden this week, and produce maximum results.
“We learned a lot coming out of nationals going into Four Continents, just training wise and how many run throughs we have to do. We’ve had the same amount of preparation that we had between nationals and Four Continents,” said Gilles, 33. “We have really just mimicked what we did there because we felt confident and strong and we felt like by the time we got to Four Continents, we were rested and ready to push.
“So we've had a few tough weeks, a few kind of easier weeks and a few extra days off to just make sure that our bodies need to be where they should be at Worlds. So we haven’t really made too many changes (in training), but just kind of mimicked what we did between January and February.”
Boston will mark the 12th World Championships for Gilles and Poirier (he actually went three times previously with former partner Vanessa Crone), which might be some sort of modern-day record for Canadian skating (Elvis Stojko qualified for a dozen Worlds, but withdrew from one of them in 1998 after suffering an injury at the Nagano Olympics). Even the last two Canadian couples to win a World title — Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz (10 times), and the incomparable Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (eight), didn’t get there quite as often. Then again, neither of those ice dance tandems skated to age 33.
Along the way, Gilles and Poirier have been on the podium three of the last four years, claiming the bronze in 2021 and 2023 before last year’s silver. And as the years go by and they get closer to their competitive finish line, they do allow themselves the opportunity to reflect upon the steps along the way, and the helpful lessons they’ve learned.
“Every year when we add another world championship (appearance) to our belts, we can reflect on everything that we’ve accomplished and everything we’ve learned over the years,” said Gilles. “Especially when we’re going into training for this event, we’ve learned over the years being trained is important, but not overtraining is even more important.
“We felt many years we’ve gone into Worlds and we’ve overtrained and haven’t skated our best because we felt dead by the time we got there. So we’re really confident in the preparation that we have for this event this time.”
Sometimes, maybe just to remind yourself of where you’ve been, you dial up a video like the one Gilles posted from more than five years ago and you think (and write) “this feels like yesterday.” They have gone on to win four more Skate Canadas since then, and a quartet of national titles, and a whole bunch of other things (the podium has become a familiar place). Yeah, it has been quite the ride since they first teamed up in 2011.
It goes without saying that this duo is heading to Boston with a World title in mind — it was their goal in Montreal a year ago, after all — and TD Garden does happen to contain at least one of those ‘firsts’ memories for them already, as Gilles pointed out.
“It just feels nice to be able to go back to a World Championship (venue) that we had so much fun at in Boston in 2016,” she said. “It was one of the first times we ever placed in the top five in (what was called) the short dance at the time, and it was such a thrilling moment. So it's kind of fun to be able to envision a special moment like that and hope to create another memorable moment there.”
Some pre-Worlds thoughts
In all honesty, you know from reading, say, this piece, what the key questions will be when it comes to Canadian skaters’ fortunes at 2025 Worlds. But we’ll take a spin through a few of them one last time for the skate blades hit the ice for real at TD Garden in less than 24 hours.
About those podium chances …
Pretty much from the beginning of the season, we’ve known Canada’s only real podium chances in Boston would come in the pairs and ice dance events. If for no other reason that Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won the World title a year ago in Montreal, and the aforementioned Gilles and Poirier took the silver in ice dance.
We also speculated, way back when it was a whole hell of a lot warmer, that the above-mentioned skaters might have a chance to give Canada double champions at the same Worlds for the first time since 2012 (no doubt you can guess who did the honours for the red maple leaf that year).
Now, we’ve walked back that talk a little bit since then, in the wake of what we saw during the Grand Prix season. And if we’re being frank here, it’s going to take some kind of effort on both ends to make that happen. The gold medal in Boston is certainly on the table for Gilles and Poirier, though we expect the battle between them and Chock and Bates to be extremely close (like, perhaps less than a point close at the finish).
It’s in the pairs event, though, that it’s a tougher call. But if you think for a moment that we’d dare count out Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps in this space … ah, no. They’re healthy right now and have built a bit of momentum since Four Continents. It says here that a podium finish is definitely in reach for them. What colour it is … well, we’ll see.
Will it be one … or two?
Yeah, this question again. But it’s been one of the biggest queries in Canadian skating all season, and this week is when the rubber truly hits the road in the men’s and women’s event for this country’s skaters.
Simply put (one more time), it’s this: Canada currently has one spot in both those disciplines at 2025 Worlds, where the allotments for next year’s Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, will be decided. To turn that number into two, it’ll take a top 10 finish at TD Garden — no small feat, indeed.
So that puts all the attention on Maddie Schizas and Roman Sadovsky, both of whom have been tasked with getting said finish. We got into this some after Four Continents and let’s just say the tone then was … not exactly brimming with optimism. There’s some serious work to do for both and the event in Seoul didn’t exactly do a lot to make it seem like it’s too realistic.
However …
We’ve mentioned previously that Schizas’ 190.04 score at Skate Canada International was reason to think she might be able to make it happen (wrote it at the time, in fact). But a couple of caveats here: that happened way back in October, and Schizas has changed her free program since then. So, the yellow caution flag has been raised a bit here, as we suggested after Four Continents. Not saying it can’t happen but ...
On the men’s side, we haven’t been nearly as bullish for that second spot for, well, most of this season. Now, Sadovsky did give us an uptick of optimism with what he showed in Laval in January. But again, like with Schizas, it’s all about seeing it again against the most competitive field of the season.
Who’s on the rise this week?
When we ponder this question, two sets of teams come to mind. And there’s reason to think good things are on the way for both of them in Boston.
Let’s start (where else) in the ice dance event, where Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha are the future stars in this discipline … if they’re not there already, that is. A year ago in front of a home audience in Montreal, Lajoie and Lagha moved into the top five at Worlds for the first time.
Now the question becomes, how much higher could they climb in Boston? They’ve surely got the talent and the goods to move up one more spot to fourth, though that would mean leaping over those energetic Brits, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson. The rhythm dance will be the decider here: Fear and Gibson were nearly five points better in that segment at the Grand Prix Final, and the Canadians couldn’t make up that gap.
We’re also keeping our eyes on Canada’s No. 2 pair team, Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud. They were sixth in their Worlds debut two years ago, then slipped to eighth in Montreal. But they’ve been at their best since the calendar turned to 2025, cracking 200 points for the first time at Canadians (and yeah, we know, that’s just a domestic score) and landing on the podium at Four Continents.
Is a top five finish possible for them, too? It’s going to take some work, to be sure, but don’t be surprised if they at least get back to where they were two years ago in the final standings.
Watching the Worlds
It’ll be a mix of (largely) streaming and television coverage, but CBC Sports will be Canadians’ eyes and ears on the World Championships in Boston. Things get started on Wednesday with the women’s and pairs short program. Here’s the streaming schedule for Day 1 at TD Garden.
Eye on Canadians
Canada has one entry in the women’s event and three in pairs. Here’s when they’ll hit the ice in Boston on Wednesday (all times ET) …
Women’s short program: Maddie Schizas, 3:29 p.m.
Pairs short program: Kelly Ann Laurin/Loucas Ethier, 8:05 p.m.; Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud, 8:50 p.m.; Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps, 10:03 p.m.