Photo Credit – Flickr

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won a gold medal on a night when they didn’t skate their best shows that they believe that they possess as they prepare for the Olympic Games.

The 29-year olds conquered their fears and some mistakes early in their free program to win the ice dance gold medal at the Skate Canada International figure skating competition. 

The pair finished with a score of 210.97 as Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy (200.05) and Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz of Spain (192.93) rounded out the podium.

Gilles and Poirier set a new personal-best mark of 85.65 points in the rhythm dance. They had improved on their previous record of 83.92 achieved at the ISU Four Continents Championships at the start of 2020. They were just as dominant in the second portion, the free skate, en route to their gold medal.

‘’Our focus is on the Olympics and getting a medal there,” Poirier said after the short program. “We are very aware of all the places where we need to improve.”

“We both felt it wasn’t our best skate but we are trying to work on our nerves because we’re not used to skating last,” said Gilles, who is American-Canadian. “It’s kind of nice we aren’t skating perfect right now at the beginning of the season, it gives us room to grow.”