2025 Skate Canada Ice Dance Podium (From L to R): Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU), Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) and Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN).
2025 Skate Canada: Ice Dance
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada won their sixth consecutive Skate Canada International gold in Saskatoon on Sunday. Lithuania’s Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius earned the silver, while Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha edged out USA’s Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko for the bronze.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier
The four-time World medalists attacked their confident and playful rhythm dance, opening with very good twizzles that were graded a level four. The level-three midline steps were smooth and they also earned a level four on their clever rotational lift that received very high grades of execution (GOE) across the board. With a score of 85.38—the highest score thus far this season in the rhythm dance, the team place first going into the free dance.
“I thought our performance today was really fun,” said Piper. “It definitely felt like the first time that we were out there, we almost wanted to ‘go’ but then we had to kind of resist that extra energy. I think we really just kind of stuck to our training. “We were like, ‘this is today’s program, not the Olympics,’ and we had a blast. I think the audience really got behind us today.”
“We felt really comfortable coming out to compete today and we were really proud of the performance,” added Poirer. “We also see where the program can grow and where we can take it over the next few months. So, I think we’re also excited when we get back home to develop the program more.”
The two-time Four Continents champions revived their popular free dance to “Vincent” to the delight of the home crowd. All was going well until there was a small slip on the curve lift which was graded a level one with negative GOEs. However, the one-foot and circular steps were both awarded a level three, while the rotational-stationary lift was graded a level four. The twizzles were graded a level three and four, and the team found themselves in second place. Nevertheless, with a total score of 202.89, they won the gold.
“It’s just one of those things, sometimes timing just isn’t right,” Gilles explained of the mistake on the lift. “It just kind of slipped and it didn’t stay in the position. It was a huge mistake, but again, it’s something that we can learn from.”
“I think it’s not our best performance today, but it is our first competition of the season,” noted Poirier. “We come out of this event knowing that we have a lot of room for growth that I think we’re really excited to work on when we get back home. Overall, we’re pleased to finally have started the season to build momentum for ourselves as we head closer and closer to the Olympics. We take this as a stepping stone as we head towards the rest of the season.”
They will compete next at Finlandia Trophy.
Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius
The 2024 European bronze medalists put out a confident and witty rhythm dance to “I’m Too Sexy” and “Cantaloop.” Reed lost a level on the midline steps which were graded a two and three, but the twizzles and rotational lift received a level four. All elements earned high GOEs, and they scored 80.89 points for second place.
“I’m really happy with our performance,” said Reed. “We just went out there and had a ton of fun and the crowd really got into it towards the back half of our program. They were clapping along and that made that it extra exciting for us to perform.”
“I think having us being prepared early was a blessing in disguise,” said Ambrulevicius. “We had a very good summer which led us to succeeding in our goals that we set. I think we are enjoying this preparation and feeling very good about ourselves, and we want to continue carrying this through.”
The 2025 Grand Prix de France bronze medalists placed first in the free dance (120.03) with their innovative routine to “God is a DJ” and ” We Come 1″ by Faithless. The lifts and dance spin were graded a level four, but Reed lost a level on the twizzles which were graded a level three and four. The with a total score of 200.92, they easily maintained second place overall for their fifth Grand Prix medal.
“We skated today the way that we trained to do it,” said Ambrulevicius. “Our training paid off and we’re happy with our performance. It was a big, big, big win for us. I think we’re super happy where we ended up. It was a big start of the season. We had no choice but to prepare for the Road to Milan (qualifier). Now we finished the Grand Prix. We’re going to take a week off because we need to reset our minds, reset our bodies a little bit and start rebuilding.”
The team now has 24 points going into the Grand Prix qualification.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha
The two-time Four Continents bronze medalists placed fourth (75.95) in the rhythm dance after a lift was ill-timed during the choreographic steps. However, the twizzles and rotational lift earned a level four, with the lift receiving no less than +4 GOEs across the board.
“It was very good,” said Lagha. “It was just like one little mistake, not even a technical mistake, but in an element, and we lost a lot of points for this. It’s unfortunate because the rest was very good and I’m happy about how we handled the stress before that moment.”
The ice dancer explained that he was supposed to “take her foot and then do like a little trick” in the choreographic steps.
“I missed her foot, her ankle,” Lagha he said. “It’s (worth) six, seven points.”
The six-time Grand Prix medalists delivered an intense free dance to “Nureyev” from The White Crow, showing good interpretation throughout. However, the twizzles were graded a level three for both ice dancers. The dance spin was also a level three while all three lifts received a level four. They finished third in the free dance, moving up one spot to third overall (116.46/192.41).
“Today felt very good. We were really connected and enjoyed the moment,” said Lajoie. “The crowd was amazing, so it really helped to enjoy the performance. There’s a little technical detail that we’ll look at. We have a week and a half before leaving for the next one.”
“We had two exclamation points in both our programs, which is a shame because we obviously try not to get one and we spend a lot of time in training not to get those exclamation points,” said Lagha. “In the short, we’re so nervous and when everything that was hard was finished, we were just so happy, so excited. And then I missed her leg and so it was very bad, but it’s okay, it happens. And today I slammed the boards, and for that reason I got the exclamation mark.”
They will compete next at Skate America.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
The two-time Four Continents bronze medalists placed third in the rhythm dance with a new season’s best of 76.83. Their dynamic routine to “Sweet Dreams” and “100% Pure Love” featured level-four twizzles and rotational lift, while the midline steps were graded a three and two.
“Overall, we are pretty happy with the performance today,” said Ponomarenko. “We left a couple points on the table here and there; there were shaky some areas, but overall very happy. We’re looking to skate tomorrow more like we do in practice and have some fun.”
The four-time Grand Prix medalists showed good expression and power throughout their dramatic free dance to selections from Notre-Dame de Paris. They picked up a level four on the twizzles and two lifts, but the rotational lift only received a level two, as did the dance spin. They finished fourth in this segment and overall (114.40/191.23).
“I thought we skated really well,” said Carreira. “We left at quite a few technical points on the table, but I think overall, it was a good skate. We were happy when we got off the ice with our skate.”
“Looking at the positives here, we went for it, and we love this program,” added Ponomarenko. “I think we showed that today. A lot of technical points on the table, but overall, I’m happy with the attack that we had today which we didn’t have yesterday.”
They will compete next at Skate America.
Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek of the Czech Republic placed fifth overall (181.19), followed by South Korea’s Hannah Lim and Ye Quan (180.41) and Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac of Canada (179.41).
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