After a poignant, heart-stirring skate, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have captured their long-awaited Olympic medal.
The veteran Canadian ice dancers earned bronze at the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday night, securing a final piece to the puzzle in what is likely the final season of their decorated careers.
Skating to Govardo’s cover of “Vincent” by Don McLean, Gilles and Poirier shattered their season’s best with 131.56 points in the free dance, bringing their total to 217.74.
Toronto’s Gilles and Poirier, of Unionville, Ont., each broke down in tears of joy as the misty-eyed crowd, with a smattering of Canadian flags, erupted at the end of their performance. Gilles then jumped up from her seat in the kiss-and-cry, while Poirier fist-pumped when the announced score confirmed their place on the podium.
Former Canadian skater Laurence Fournier Beaudry, a 32-year-old from Montreal, and Guillaume Cizeron won gold for France with a total of 225.82, gliding across the ice in a powerful and stunning skate to music from “The Whale.”
Three-time reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States claimed silver with 224.39 after wowing the audience with a strong American contingent to “Paint It Black” by Ramin Djawadi.
Gilles and Poirier, skating partners for 15 years, are four-time world championship medallists but had not reached the podium in two previous Olympics together.
The bronze marks Canada’s fourth medal of these Games — and its first in figure skating since bringing home four from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Before Gilles and Poirier took the ice, Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who the Canadian led by a narrow 0.71 points after Monday’s rhythm dance, fell from fourth to seventh after Fear stepped out of her twizzles.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026
