2025 Canadian National Skating Championships: Ice Dance

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (ON) convincingly won their fourth gold medal in Ice Dance in Laval, QC, on Sunday. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (QC) pocketed the silver, while Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer (QC) captured the bronze.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier

Gilles and Poirier earned a whopping 91.84—a Canadian national record—for their Barbie-themed rhythm dance set to music from The Beach Boys and The Surfaris. Sporting their red-and-white lifeguard costumes debuted at Skate Canada International, the three-time world medalists snagged level fours on the twizzles, pattern step sequence and rotational lift.

“I think we had an idea like doing red and white in Canada,” said Piper of the costumes. “It just kind of felt like the right place to do it. And I think from the first time we wore these, these have just been a favorite of ours because we’ve spent the most time in them practicing so they’re super comfortable. It was just super special to do that in Canada in these colors and it was a great skate. We had so much fun! The crowd really got behind this program today, and I think we were overall just super settled, super confident and kind of showed it in that skate.”

She also noted that there were changes made to the twizzle sequence after the Grand Prix Final.

“We just felt like we weren’t getting the great execution that we were hoping for,” she explained. “We loved the element. We thought it was really interesting. But I think over time, we realized that sometimes creativity isn’t always rewarded. So, we went back to very simple twizzles that we know we’re confident and strong in. And today it showed. We were right on. We knew exactly where our feet were without having to kind of do some changing in between.”

Poirier reflected on the “magic” of nationals.

“Until you’re into your mid to late teens, usually, nationals are your marquee event,” he pointed out. “It’s your big event of the year. And you’ve trained almost your entire childhood growing up skating being like ‘Nationals is the big deal.’ It’s the biggest event you have to do. And somehow, no matter how many times you’ve done it, it feels like a big event, still. It feels important, it feels special. There’s this magic around nationals that’s always there, and it never really goes away, even though, in some ways, we’re almost on the other side of that. We’re the veterans of this event and we’ve done it so many times, but the magic is still there, because we know what it represents.”

The 2024 Skate Canada champs performed a masterful rendition of their “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Annie Lennox tango to score 137.71 in the free skate, and finished the competition with 229.55 points, winning their fourth Canadian championship. Highlights included level four twizzles and a smooth closing spiral sequence that concluded with their ending pose. They were also awarded with nine perfect tens in program components.

“I think from beginning to end, we really enjoyed every moment, and we didn’t get ahead of ourselves at any point during the entire week,” Poirier reflected. “We really believed in the last few weeks of training. And I think we’re just really proud of ourselves, of what we were able to do this week, and simultaneously trying to balance that with looking to where we can continue to improve as the season goes on. And so, I think every competition comes with those mixed feelings of being able to celebrate what you’ve accomplished. And also, right away getting into that mindset of, ‘what do I want to do better?’ And that’s who we are as people, and it makes us better.”

On the satisfaction of skating clean in Laval versus their last two Grand Prix events, Piper chalks it up to confidence and consistency.

“We train really hard,” she said. “We really know what to expect once we get to competition. So, it was hard to accept the unpredictable, because that’s just not how we train or what we do. And even for our coaches, it was a complete shock. And even our teammates were like, ‘How? Why? What?’ So, being able to put two solid performances down like we do at home; it felt really nice. And I think that’s definitely what we needed, just to kind of know we’re going in the right direction.”

“I think it definitely gives us just confidence in ourselves and that always feels good and that’s nice,” add Poirier. “But I don’t think we came into this competition feeling panicked or doubting ourselves or being afraid that the same thing might happen. I don’t think we allowed ourselves to get into that space mentally. So, of course, we want to come out and skate well every time, and we’re really pleased with how we performed this competition and that’ll give us some confidence going into Four Continents. But we also know that no matter the circumstances, we could be going into Four Continents with confidence and feeling prepared no matter what. So, we’re definitely very happy with how it went, but we’ve learned how to overcome any obstacle and not let us cloud our mentality going into the next competition.”

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha

Lajoie and Lagha earned 86.42 points with their animated “Austin Powers” rhythm dance. The six-time Grand Prix medalists nailed level four twizzles and a level four rotational lift.

“I was a little bit nervous today, but we were able to fight the emotions and just skate like we skate in practice,” said Lagha. “That’s what we did today. With nerves, you just deal with it. You know, it’s your job to, like, even if you’re nervous, you have to, you know, grow some and go for it. You know, face your fears.”

“We’re always nervous,” Lajoie chimed in. “It’s always so nerve-racking because some people ask us, ‘Oh, it’s your smallest competition of this season, are you going to be less stressed?’ But I was maybe more stressed than the Final for this. I don’t know why. We’re always more stressed and more stressed, and we always perform good, even if we’re stressed. It’s okay. It doesn’t really happen often that we’re not stressed because we care so much. I think it’s just normal to be stressed.”

The 2022 Olympians skated their soulful “Sound of Silence” free dance to earn 132.10 points and finish the event with 218.52 to reclaim the silver medals they won in 2023. They received nine level four elements—the most of any team in the event—and two perfect marks of ten in program components.

“It went really well,” said Lajoie. “I think we were both really in the present moment, concentrating on every step. And so, I don’t know, at the end, I didn’t realize it was the end, but I think that’s a good sign. And we’re pretty happy with the skate today.”

“This feeling of accomplishment; that is quite important for us,” added Lagha. “When you don’t have that, it’s like you’re training. It’s important. You improve, whatever, but you don’t have this, this thing, like you achieve something, you know, even if you do bad. What’s important is that you try your hardest. So, it’s never fun in the moment but then after it’s always okay.”

Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer

Last year’s bronze medalists performed their energetic rhythm dance set to music by Elvis Presley to score 78.53. They received level four on their rotational lift.

“The crowd is just crazy!” noted Fabbri. “Anytime you would just, like, skate by. So, it was kind of funny from the warmup to, like, getting applause for it. I’m happy we lived it last year, because it’s quite distracting when you don’t expect it. But it’s fun. I think we both use it as kind of like an energy giver. So it’s really fun.”

Her favorite element of the program is the choreographic steps at the end.

“It’s like, the program’s almost done so, for me,” she explained. “I felt like I could give more at the end. So I just enjoyed watching every judge and every person in the stand and being able to connect with them, which I think made them appreciate the program, too.”

With less than half a point separating them from the fourth-place team, they knew it would be tight going into the free dance.

Fabbri and Ayer skated their free dance set to “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” and “You Don’t Own Me” with confidence, evoking cheers from the audience at Place Bell. They executed level-four twizzles and scored 117.35 to repeat a bronze medal finish with 195.88 points.

“There was a lot of pressure coming here,” admitted Fabbri. “Paul and I do enjoy skating under pressure. I think that’s where we bond the most and then create some magic. So, we were excited but nervous. The crowd definitely was amazing and unbelievable. And we’re just super happy that we were able to both perform in our hometowns back-to-back and get a medal out of it.”

“Maybe halfway through, like, after the little dip down, I was unsure if my legs would start to feel tired or not, but the feeling just kept going forever,” Ayr volunteered.

“That’s what happens when you’re able to have a full year of training with no injuries,” said Fabbri. “So, we found what works for us and we’ll definitely keep doing that.”

“I think from where we were last year, it was still super valuable,” she said of the comparison from last year. “The podium was open, but it wasn’t like specifically for us right away. There were so many other people that could battle. So many good teams. So, I think we took that, and we were aware that there were people missing but we knew that this was our spot from now on. And obviously, now being able to redo that this year with nobody missing in front of us is just amazing.”

Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac (QC) placed a close fourth (193.28), followed by Lily Hensen and Nathan Lickers (ON) (179.83).

Related Info:

• Full Results
• Competition Threads

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