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Gilles and Poirier place fourth at season-opening Grand Prix

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MOSCOW – Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto placed fourth in ice dancing on Saturday to conclude the Rostelecom Cup – the first stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani of the U.S. won the gold medal with 189.24 points. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of Russia were second at 184.74 and their compatriots Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin third at 179.35.

Gilles and Poirier followed at 172.29.

“We did what we needed to do here,” said Gilles. “It’s a good start for us.”

“This is the start of a marathon,” added Poirier, about this Olympic season. “We want to make sure we are peaking at the right time.”

Russians swept the podium in pairs led by Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov with the gold. Julianne Séguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., remained fifth.

“We left a lot of points of the table,” said Séguin. “Still it’s a good start. We had a solid short program and our long just needs some tweaking and more performance mileage.”

The pair made mistakes on both side-by-side jumps.

“There was some nervousness,” said Bilodeau. “We had some issues in training this week and that can affect your confidence.”

In men’s competition, Nathan Chen of the U.S. reeled off four quads en route to the gold medal with 293.79.  He upset Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan in second at 290.77 while Mikhail Kolyada of Russia was third at 271.06.

Nam Nguyen of Toronto produced the sixth best free skate but remained seventh overall at 238.45. Skating to An American in Paris, he opened with a perfect quad-toe but fell on his following quad-Salchow. The rest of the skate was clean including two triple Axels (one in combination).

“I’m disappointed,’’ said Nguyen. “I was hoping to put in a really good performance. I need to go back and work out the kinks and come back feeling 100 percent confident.”

The next stop on the circuit is Skate Canada International this Friday and Saturday (October 27-28) in Regina.

Full results: ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017

Canadians keep medals in sight at ISU Grand Prix

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MOSCOW – Canada’s three entries at the season opening ISU Grand Prix event – the Rostelecom Cup – will need strong free skates to get on the podium following Friday’s short program performances.

In ice dancing, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani of the U.S. are first after the short dance with 77.30. Two Russian couples followed with Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev second at 76.33 and Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin third at 71.32.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto are in the medal hunt standing fourth with 69.67.

“This first half of the season we want to improve our performance levels,” said Poirier. “And I feel that is getting better despite some glitches today.”

“We definitely got some fire in our belly for the free skate,” added Gilles. “Lots can change.”

Russians are 1-2 in pairs. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov are first at 76.88, Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov second at 71.39. Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek of Italy stand third at 68.48.

Julianne Séguin of Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., skated a clean program for fifth at 67.06, less than two points from third.

In men’s competition, Nathan Chen of the U.S. landed two quads and leads after the short program with 100.54. Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is second at 94.85 and Dmitri Aliev of Russia third at 88.77.

Nam Nguyen of Toronto stands seventh but at 80.74 he is still in striking distance of the podium. He opened with a successful quad-triple combination and also landed his triple Axel. However he fell on his quad-toe attempt.

“I didn’t have a very good warm-up so I’m happy with how I recovered from that,” said Nguyen, 19, ranked third in Canada. “Obviously the performance could have been better but I’m excited about my free skate which has been going well in practice.”

The free skates are on Saturday.

Full results: ISU GP Rostelecom Cup 2017

Canadian team headed to Russia for first stop on 2017 ISU Grand Prix circuit

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OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada will have three entries, for a total of five skaters, competing at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, Russia, from October 20-22, 2017. The competition is the first event on the 2017 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (with subsequent stops in Canada, China, Japan, France, and U.S.A.). Canada will have one entry per discipline in men’s, pairs and ice dance at the event.

Canadian bronze medallist Nam Nguyen, 19, Toronto, Ont., will be the Canadian men’s entry. This will be his third time competing at this event; in 2014 he won the bronze medal. This season, he placed fifth at the 2017 Autumn Classic International. Nguyen is coached by Tracey Wainman and Gregor Filipowski in Richmond Hill, Ont.

Julianne Séguin, 20, Longueuil, Que., and Charlie Bilodeau, 24, Trois-Pistoles, Que., will represent Canada in pairs. They are the defending champions at this event and 2015 bronze medallists. The pair started this season at the 2017 Autumn Classic International where they won bronze. Séguin and Bilodeau are coached by Josée Picard in Chambly, Que.

Canadian bronze medallists Piper Gilles, 25, Toronto, Ont., and Paul Poirier, 25, Unionville, Ont., will be the Canadian entry in ice dance. They previously competed at this event in 2015, winning bronze. This season, they won the bronze medal at the 2017 Autumn Classic International. Gilles and Poirier are coached by Carol Lane and Juris Razgulajevs in Scarborough, Ont.

Terra Findlay of Echo Bay, Ont., will be the Canadian team leader at the event. Dr. Sari Kraft of Toronto, Ont., and physiotherapist Paige Larson of North Vancouver, B.C., will be the Canadian medical staff onsite. Lynne Dey of Edmonton, Alta., and Karen Butcher of Greely, Ont., will be the Canadian officials at the event.

For results and full entries please visit www.isu.org. For photos of Canadian entries, please contact [email protected].

CANADIAN ENTRIES AT 2017 ROSTELECOM CUP

Discipline Name Age Hometown Club Coach
Men Nam Nguyen 19 Toronto, Ont. York Region Skating Academy Tracey Wainman / Gregor Filipowski
Pairs Julianne Séguin / Charlie Bilodeau 20/24 Longueuil, Que. / Trois-Pistoles, Que. CPA Longueuil / CPA Chambly Josée Picard
Ice Dance Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 25/25 Toronto, Ont. / Unionville, Ont. Scarboro FSC / Scarboro FSC Carol Lane / Juris Razgulajevs