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Gilles and Poirier collect second bronze this season ISU Grand Prix

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GRENOBLE, France – Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto notched a second bronze medal this season on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit on Saturday at Les Internationaux de France, the sixth stop on the circuit.

World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France took the gold with 216.78 points, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia were second at 200.78 and Gilles and Poirier followed at 188.74

The Canadians were also third at Skate Canada earlier this month.

“It was one of those free dances we had to fight through,” said Poirier. “We didn’t make any errors which we’re really pleased with. We had to focus on each element one at a time.”

Despite bronze in their two Grand Prix assignments it wasn’t enough to qualify for the Grand Prix Final next month in Vancouver.

“We are disappointed not to qualify for the final,” added Poirier. “We were at some very tough events with deep fields.”

In pairs, Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres of France took the gold with Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea of the U.S. second and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia third.

Camille Ruest of Rimouski, Que., and Andrew Wolfe of Calgary remained fifth.

“We’ve improved a lot of elements since our last competition,” said Ruest. “It was a solid week for us and we are happy with both of our programs.”

In men’s competition, world champion Nathan Chen led the U.S. to a 1-2 finish with Jason Brown second and Alexander Samarin of Russia third.

Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., was 11th after the short program Friday. He withdrew from the free skate due to a back injury suffered in the warm up for the short on Friday.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/gpfra2018/

Gilles and Poirier stand third after rhythm dance at Internationaux de France

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GRENOBLE, France – Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto are on track for a second ISU Grand Prix medal this season standing third after the rhythm dance at Les Internationaux de France, the sixth stop on the circuit.

World champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France are first with 84.13 points, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia are second at 77.91 and Gilles and Poirier follow at 74.25.

The Canadians were also third at Skate Canada earlier this month.

“After having an error at Skate Canada we really wanted to make sure we skated the program clean here,” said Poirier. “We didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves. We were really good about managing our energy output. We paced the program really well and felt really in the moment with the performance.”

Gilles says the rhythm dance still isn’t where they want it to be.

“We still need to work on our levels,” she said. “We always feel a little bit inconsistent it seems but we have to sit with our coaches and see where we can improve our scores.”

In pairs, Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii of Russia are in first place. Camille Ruest of Rimouski, Que., and Andrew Wolfe of Calgary are fifth.

“We’re really pleased with that short program,” said Ruest. “We worked hard to increase our speed and to improve the performance aspect of our skating.”

In men’s competition, the top-three after the short program are Jason Brown of the U.S., Alexander Samarin of Russia and world champion Nathan Chen of the U.S.

Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., is 11th.

Competition ends Saturday with all four free skates.

Full results: http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1819/gprus2018/

Five Canadian skaters headed to Grenoble for Internationaux de France

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OTTAWA, ON: Team Canada will be competing at the final event in the 2018-2019 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series in Grenoble, France from November 23-25.

In the men’s category, Nicolas Nadeau will represent Canada. Nadeau finished fourth at Finlandia Trophy earlier this season.

In the pairs category, Camille Ruest and Andrew Wolfe will be representing Canada. This is their second grand prix event, they finished eighth at Skate Canada International.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will be the  Canadian ice dancers at the event. The team won bronze at their first grand prix assignment of the season at  Skate Canada International.

Canadian Entries at Internationaux de France-Grenoble, France

Discipline Name Age Hometown Club Coach
Men Nicolas Nadeau 20 Boisbriand, Que. CPA Boisbriand Yvan Desjardins
Pairs Camille Ruest / Andrew Wolfe 24/24 Rimouski, Que. / Calgary, Alta. CPA Rimouski / Glencoe Club Calgary Richard Gauthier, Bruno Marcotte
Ice Dance Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier 26/27 Toronto, Ont. / Unionville, Ont. Scarboro FSC / Scarboro FSC Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs, Jon Lane

Manon Perron of Boucherville, Que., will be the Canadian team leader at the event. Dr. Albert Schumacher of Tecumseh, Ont., and physiotherapist Scott Fraser of Kingston, Ont., will be the medical staff onsite. Janice Hunter of West Vancouver, B.C. and Reaghan Fawcett  of Aurora, Ont. will be Canadian officials at the event.

For more information, please visit www.isu.org.