Canadian skaters win gold and two silver at Skate Canada International
Team Canada won three medals on home soil on Saturday at Skate Canada International, in Kelowna, B.C.
Home favourite ice dancers, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier kicked off the second stop on the ISU Grand Prix circuit, in gold medal fashion. The duo won their first Grand Prix with 209.01 points.
“We’ve worked really hard for this moment. I think we really trusted our training and knew exactly what we needed to do when we came here. We just went for it and skated today’s program and that’s all that we can do. We have plenty more to do in the next couple of weeks to keep this streak going, but I think we’re really up for the challenge,” Gilles said following the ice dance.
After the rhythm dance on Friday evening, Gilles and Poirier remained in second rank with 82.58 points. The Canadians delivered a fluid free dance, executing intricate choreography through footwork and lifts to overtake overnight leaders Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, to win the gold medal.
Second place went to Hubbell and Donohue of the USA (206.31), followed by Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (195.35).
Later Saturday, Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro skated to silver in the pairs event with 208.49 points. Russian youngsters Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii won gold (216.71), while fellow Russians, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov rounded out the podium with bronze (202.29).
In the men’s program, Skate Canada’s Nam Nguyen won silver with 262.77 points. Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu and Keiji Tanaka won gold (322.59) and bronze (250.02) respectively.
This is the second stop on the 2019 ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit. Saturday marks the end of competition in Kelowna. The next stop of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is the Internationaux de France in Grenoble, France from November 1 – 3.
