Canadian Olympic bronze-medal ice dancers Gilles, Poirier head to world championships

To no single’s surprisal, a well-earned Olympic bronzy medal — 15 years in the making — has scarcely left wing the sight of ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier since they wowed millions of Canadians with a season-best performance in Milan.

Poirier’s can be spotted in various places after he returns home from showing it to several people.

"Mine's in my purse,” Gilles piped up. “I feel like I’m treating it like a passport. I don’t want to lose it or do anything with it [that might cause damage].

“Once we slow down, we’ll both find a place to hang it or store it. Right now, it’s literally an accessory.”

In five weeks since the Olympics, spending time with family has been top priority for the Toronto duo. They returned home, took a couple of days off and then it was time to prepare for a 13th appearance at the world figure skating championships, March 24-29 in Prague.

After worlds, the three-time Olympians will join the Stars on Ice tour and return home May 18 on Victoria Day.

The Olympics, said the Ottawa-born Poirier, could have been a “natural place” to call it a season. However, he and Gilles wanted the opportunity to perform and compete again while giving their families and new fans from the Winter Games a chance to see them skate one last time this season.

"We were very tired,” the 34-year-old noted, “but we’re getting ready for show season, so we had to be on the ice. As we started training, we felt excited at the prospect of going to Prague. That excitement coming through being tired, in the end, is what made the decision for us.”

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier waltz to an Olympic bronze medal

On Feb. 11, Gilles and Poirier scored 131.56 points in an emotional free dance in Milan, inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and 217.74 overall, both season bests. They were the first Canadians to make the individual ice dance medal podium since Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s 2018 gold-medal effort in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Gilles and Poirier were eighth in Pyeongchang, which the latter described as a proud celebration as first-time Olympians. They entered the 2022 Olympic season after claiming bronze in Stockholm at their first world championship. With expectations on the rise, Gilles and Poirier placed seventh at the Games in Beijing.

Earlier this season, they made history at the Skate Canada International competition in Saskatoon, where Gilles and Poirier became the first ice dance pair to win six consecutive gold medals at the event.

In their career, the Canadians long known for their often quirky and unconventional style on the ice have collected two Grand Prix Final medals, five at the Four Continents championships and four at worlds, including back-to-back silver in 2024 and 2025.

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier receive Olympic bronze medals

“Winning a medal at the Olympics was an enormous accomplishment. What I’m most proud of [in our career] is our body of work,” he said. “All that we’ve produced and contributed to sport, and the way we’ve always brought ourselves and our vision to what we do. I think that’s going to be our legacy.

"What makes us Piper and Paul is the creativity that we’ve brought to the sport."

Added Gilles: “Every athlete has their own journey, and for us it has been 15 years. I like the way we’ve done it. If you’re successful in the middle of your career and trying to chase the rest of it, that’s really hard and can be extremely stressful.

"For us to slowly build, we get there in the end and are winning in our own time. It’s a good example for any [up-and-coming] athlete [who] maybe feels they’re not [successful]. You can still get there; it’s your own path. That’s what we’re extremely proud of."

Carol Lane, longtime coach of Gilles and Poirier, said last October she’d be “very surprised” if they returned for a 16th season, but the ice dancers stopped short on Wednesday of saying retirement was imminent.

"We want to be present at the world championships and not have the mindset that it could be the end,” said Gilles, who was born in Rockford, Ill. “We want to enjoy ourselves, enjoy our skating, celebrate what we’ve accomplished this season and leave it at that."

The 34-year-old pointed out a lot was learned from competing in the team event at the Milano-Cortina Olympics before the quest for an individual medal began. Gilles and Paul Poirier scored a season-best 85.79 for fourth in their rhythm dance to Supermodel by RuPaul and finished 1.06 points behind Great Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson.

"We were almost too excited to compete and weren’t as mindful with our technical [elements],” Gilles said. “I think we’re trying to be grounded and not overtraining, not undertraining, but being in that sweet spot and present with what we’re doing.

"Concentrating on the elements and execution [will] be our mindset, especially going into the rhythm dance [at worlds]. Being present with our tech, because that allows us to get the scores we expect."

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