Daily Times

Shanghai: Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier hailed a career milestone as they won their first International Skating Union championship title in the Four Continents ice dance in Shanghai on Sunday.

The pair’s elegiac “Wuthering Heights” free dance earned them 128.87 points for a total of 214.36. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen also scored above 200 points to take silver, while the US pair of Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko came third with 194.14.

Sailing across the ice in billowing steel grey and baby pink, Gilles and Poirier wowed the crowd with their complex choreography and gravity-defying holds. “It’s such a big milestone in our career,” said Poirier. “I think we’re really proud of the way we skated. This week, we really believed in ourselves… we skated like the champions that we are.” The two-time world bronze medallists missed Four Continents last year after Gilles was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had precautionary surgery. This year’s victory comes weeks after they were crowned national champions. “I’m looking forward to some dumplings after this,” Gilles quipped after coming off the ice.

Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen, who also represent Canada and are a couple off the ice, withdrew from the nationals after Soerensen confirmed reports he is under investigation by Canada’s Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner for alleged sexual assault. Soerensen said in a social media post at the time that the allegations were false, but that his presence at the national competition would be “distracting”.

At the end of Sunday’s “Notre Dame de Paris” free dance, he was visibly emotional, dropping his head to Fournier Beaudry’s chest after they struck their final pose.

Canada also triumphed in the pairs event on Saturday, with Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps taking gold.

Japanese skaters dominated the singles events, with Yuma Kagiyama and Mone Chiba winning the men’s and women’s competitions respectively.