(Oshawa) Dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, gold medalists at last month’s ISU Grand Prix Finals, will miss the Canadian Figure Skating Championships after Gilles underwent an appendectomy.
Gilles and Poirier had their best career season so far, having triumphed in the Grand Prix, as well as in the finals in Turin, Italy.
Gilles, 30, and Poirier, 31, won bronze at the World Championships in 2021. They contemplated retirement after their seventh-place finish at the Beijing Olympics, but ultimately opted to pursue the adventure after a long break in the off season.
The Canadian Championships get underway on January 12 at the Tributes Community Center in Oshawa.
Skate Canada also announced that 2017 Worlds bronze medalist Gabrielle Daleman, dancers Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, as well as couple Lori-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland will miss the event due to injuries.
Keegan Messing will be chasing gold on the men’s side in what is expected to be his last career national championship appearance. He plans to hang up his skates at the end of this campaign. Olympian Madeline Schizas will headline the women’s side.
French Grand Prix winners Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will be chasing their first Canadian title, while NHK Trophy winners Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen will be chasing the dance title.