Two-time and reigning ISU World Ice Dance silver medallists Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (CAN) danced off with their eighth ISU Grand Prix gold medal as Skate Canada International wrapped up on Sunday with a delightful Free Dance competition.  

Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier (CAN) win sixth Skate Canada title

Four-time ISU World medalists Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier of Canada capped off an exciting week of competition in Saskatoon by claiming their sixth Skate Canada title and their eighth ISU Grand Prix title overall. Lithuania’s Allison Reed & Saulius Ambrulevicius earned the silver medal, while Canadians Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha picked up the bronze. 

Gilles & Poirier turned in a beautiful dance to “Vincent” that was highlighted by their effortless-looking yet intricate step sequences, dance spin and combination lift. The only glitch came when they wobbled on the curve lift that was rated a level one. Gilles/Poirier scored 117.51 points and were ranked second in the Free Dance but remained in first overall at 202.89 points.

Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) celebrate a sixth title in front of an adoring home crowd at Skate Canada 2025 in Saskatoon, Canada © ISU

“It's not our best performance today, but it is our first competition of the season,” Poirier commented. “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.”

Gilles/Poirier’s next event will be the ISU Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki. 

Reed & Ambrulevicius got the crowd going at the SaskTel Centre with their dynamic dance set to techno music by Faithless. The 2024 ISU European bronze medalists collected a level four for the lifts, the spin and his twizzles to win the Free Dance segment with 120.03 points. Overall they took their first silver medal on the ISU Grand Prix circuit after four bronze medals with 200.92 points. 

“We skated today the way that we trained to do it,” Ambrulevicius noted. “It was a big, big, big win for us. I think we're super happy where we ended up and we're happy that our work paid off.

“It was a big start of the season. We had no choice but to prepare early. The road to Milan competition was a road to the whole start of the season. Now we're going to take a week off because we need to reset our minds, reset our bodies a little bit and start rebuilding.”

Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) feel that their hard work finally paid off with a silver at Skate Canada 2025 in Saskatoon, Canada © ISU

The Lithuanians collected 24 points for the ISU Grand Prix standings with their silver and bronze medals. They will have to wait and see if that is enough to get into the Final for the first time in their career. 

Lajoie & Lagha’s elegant and balletic performance to “Nureyev” featured beautiful lifts and smooth footwork. The two-time ISU Grand Prix Finalists achieved a seasons best of 116.46 points for their Free Dance to accumulate 192.41 points, another season's best and to move up from fourth place. 

“Today felt very good,” Lajoie said. “We're very happy with the way we skated. We were really connected and enjoyed the moment. 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, but overall we're very happy about it.”

Lajoie/Lagha will compete again at the ISU Grand Prix Skate America hoping to qualify for the Final again.

Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (CAN) fed off the local support to claim third place at Skate Canada 2025 in Saskatoon, Canada © ISU

Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) gave an emotional performance to “Notre Dame de Paris” but were edged out of the podium by just a little over a point (191.23 points). Katerina Mrzakova& Daniel Mrazek (CZE) finished fifth with their interpretation of “Malaguena” on 181.19 points. Hannah Lim & Ye Quan (KOR) placed sixth (180.41 points). 

ISU Grand Prix Standings

Check out who is on their way to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final:

Men                               Women                    Pairs                      Ice Dance

For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.

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The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event are available below:

5. 17 - 19 Oct 2025                       Grand Prix de France in Angers (FRA)
6. 24 - 26 Oct 2025                       Cup of China in Chongqing (CHN)
7. 31 Oct-2 Nov 2025                   Skate Canada International in Saskatoon (CAN)
8. 07 - 9 Nov 2025                        NHK Trophy in Osaka (JPN)
9. 14- 16 Nov 2025                       Skate America in Lake Placid (USA)  
10. 21 - 23 Nov 2025                      Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki (FIN)  

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final: 

5. 04 - 07 Dec 2025                        Nagoya (JPN)