Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier successfully defended their ice dance title at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea. The Toronto-based duo narrowly edged reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, claiming gold with a total score of 218.46, just 0.53 points ahead of their American rivals.
“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.”
Fellow Canadians Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha also reached the podium, securing bronze with a total score of 201.04. Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer finished ninth in the competition.
In the men’s event, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov made history, delivering a season-best free skate to become the first skater from his country to win Four Continents gold since Denis Ten in 2015. Leading by 12 points after the short program, Shaidorov landed four quadruple jumps and three triples in the free skate, earning 190.37 points for a total of 285.10.
“This gold medal means a lot to me,” Shaidorov said. “Ten years ago, Denis Ten won the first Four Continents gold medal for Kazakhstan here in Seoul, and now I was able to return this medal to our country.”
South Korea’s Cha Jun-hwan secured silver with 265.02 points, while Jimmy Ma of the United States took bronze with 245.01. Canada’s Roman Sadovsky was the top Canadian finisher, placing 10th with a total score of 213.90. Matthew Newnham and Aleksa Rakic finished 12th and 16th, respectively.
Shaidorov, who trained under Ten in Kazakhstan, paid tribute to his late mentor, who was tragically killed in 2018. “The emotions are overwhelming,” he said. “It is very meaningful also for Kazakhstan, and it is in memory of Denis.”
Source: Swifteradio.com
