Gilles and Poirier Win Bronze at Milano Cortina 2026
After years of coming close, of waiting, of believing, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finally stood on the Olympic podium.
The Canadian ice dance team delivered a powerful free dance performance to win bronze at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, marking a breakthrough moment in their third Olympic appearance together.
A door opens in the free dance
Gilles and Poirier entered the free dance in third place after the rhythm dance, holding a slim 0.71 advantage over Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson.
The pressure intensified when the British duo faltered in their twizzle sequence during the free dance, a costly error that dropped them down the standings. Suddenly, the margin protecting Canada widened, but the job was far from done.
Gilles and Poirier responded with composure and emotion.
They returned this season to a free dance set to “Vincent,” a program that carries deep personal meaning for them. The performance was fluid, expressive and technically sharp, earning 131.56 points in the free dance and a total score of 217.74.
When they finished, both skaters were overcome with emotion. For a brief moment, they held the lead with two powerhouse teams still to skate.
The final standings
The American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates posted 224.39 overall to take silver, while France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron claimed gold with 225.82.
Even as they slipped from the temporary top spot to bronze, the Canadians had secured something far more meaningful: their first Olympic medal.
A legacy strengthened
This medal adds to Canada’s strong history in ice dance.
It marks the country’s fifth Olympic medal in the discipline and its fourth in the last five Winter Games.
The journey began at Calgary 1988 when Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall earned bronze on home ice. The era of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir followed, with gold at Vancouver 2010, silver at Sochi 2014 and gold again at PyeongChang 2018.
Now, Gilles and Poirier have written their own chapter.
For a team that has collected four world championship medals and remained among the sport’s elite for nearly a decade, Milano Cortina 2026 delivered the validation they had chased for years.
And this time, there was no leaving empty-handed.
