Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier defend ice dance title at Four Continents

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Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are once again golden at the Four Continents figure skating championship. 

The duo held on to their slim one-point lead from the rhythm dance to claim their second consecutive title in the event on Saturday. 

“We were completely exhausted afterwards, but that’s because we gave it our all,” Poirier said. “We’re proud of what we accomplished here. When we arrived, we felt confident about the training we had done, and we felt prepared to skate our very best. Now we want to carry this over to the World Championships.”

Toronto’s Gilles and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., finished second to Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the free dance but their lead from the rhythm dance was good enough to allow them to finish first overall with 218.46 points.

Two-time and reigning world champions Chock and Bates were second with 217.93 points while Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., took the bronze with 201.04 points.

Fellow Canadians Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer finished in ninth place. 

In the men’s field, Mikhail Shaidorov produced a season-best score in the free skate on Saturday to become the first skater from Kazakhstan to win the Four Continents title since Denis Ten in 2015.

Skating at the same venue where Ten won, Shaidorov held a 12-point lead after the short program and was equally impressive in the free skate, landing four quadruple jumps and three triples for 190.37 points for an overall total of 285.10.

Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea was second with 265.02 points followed by Jimmy Ma of the United States with 245.01.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., was the top Canadian, coming in 10th with 213.90 points. 

Matthew Newnham of St. Albert, Alta., finished 12th and Aleksa Rakic of Burnaby, B.C., was 16th. 

The 20-year-old Shaidorov, who took part in lessons Ten held in Kazakhstan, earned his first International Skating Union title and first medal at the Four Continents.

“This gold medal means a lot to me,” Shaidorov said. “Ten years ago it was Denis Ten who won the first Four Continents gold medal for Kazakhstan here in Seoul and now I was able to return this medal to our country.”

Performing to “Moonlight Sonata” and “Take On Me,” Shaidorov opened with a superb triple axel, single Euler and quad salchow combination that set the tone for his routine.

He followed with a quad lutz and a quad toe loop before adding another quad toe-triple toe combination later in his routine.

When he routine was over, Shaidorov collapsed to the ice in happiness.

“The emotions are overwhelming,” Shaidorov said. “It is very meaningful also for Kazakhstan and it is in memory of Denis.”

Ten was stabbed to death during a carjacking in Almaty in July 2018.

Cha was fourth after the short program and turned in a spectacular free skate with a season’s best score of 185.78 to grab the silver medal before the home fans.

The South Korean skater started his routine with a quadruple salchow. His next element was supposed to be a quad toe loop but he could only manage a double, but that was the only major mistake for the 2022 Four Continents champion.

“Five years ago, when we had the Four Continents here in Korea, I really wanted to get a medal but I came fifth,” Cha said. “And this time I achieved that goal, so I’m really happy.”

Ma, who was second after the short program, hit two quad toes but fell on a triple loop early in his routine and touched down on triple axel.

“Obviously it’s an incredible honour to be able to get this medal this year, at this time,” Ma said. “But my goal for this Championship was just to put out two performances that I’d be incredibly proud of.”

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