Piper Gilles

Gilles and Donohue at the 2010 World Junior Championships

Gilles began learning to skate in 1994.[10] She teamed up with Timothy McKernan in January 2003 after skating with him earlier on a temporary basis.[11] They began competing on the juvenile level in 2004, winning the bronze medal. In 2005, they became the intermediate dance champions. The duo won the junior pewter medal at the 2007 U.S. Championships and silver the following year at the 2008 U.S. Championships. They announced the end of their partnership on May 22, 2008.[12] The partnership ended due to Gilles having physically outgrown McKernan.[6]

Gilles teamed up with Zachary Donohue in the summer of 2008. They made their international debut at the 2008–2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, which they won. At their second event, in Cape Town, South Africa, they won the silver medal. They won the bronze medal on the junior level at the 2009 U.S. Championships.

After repeating as national bronze medalists, Gilles/Donohue finished ninth at the 2010 World Junior Championships. Their split was announced in May 2010.[13] Reflecting on the end of the partnership years later, Gilles would say that she and Donohue were "very similar - very emotional and driven - but it didn’t work for us. And we tried, we tried so hard to make it work, and again, it just wasn’t the right partnership for either of us."[6]

With the likelihood of finding a new partner low, Gilles decided to pursue other avenues, moving to Los Angeles. She appeared in the band Simple Plan's music video for the song "Can't Keep My Hands off You", and was offered the role of Rapunzel in Disney on Ice's production of Tangled.[3][8]

Gilles and Poirier at the 2012 Canadian Championships

Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier contacted Gilles to arrange a tryout.[3][8] On July 27, 2011, the two confirmed they had teamed up to represent Canada.[14] They were unable to compete internationally in their first season due to Gilles needing a release from U.S. Figure Skating.[14] They decided to train under Carol Lane at the Scarboro Figure Skating Club at the Ice Galaxy in Scarborough, Ontario.[14][15] Their free dance was choreographed by Christopher Dean in Colorado Springs, Colorado in early June.[16]

Gilles/Poirier won the bronze medal at the 2012 Canadian Championships. Due to their ineligibility for international competition that season, fourth-place finishers Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill took the third world team spot that season.[17]

In September 2012, Gilles and Poirier won gold at the U.S. Classic. They received two Grand Prix assignments, 2012 Skate Canada International and 2012 Trophée Éric Bompard.[18] They finished fourth and sixth at the two events and then won the silver medal at the 2013 Canadian Championships. They were fifth at the 2013 Four Continents Championships, winning a small bronze medal in the free dance. Appearing at their first World Championships, held in London, Ontario, they placed eighteenth.

In May 2013, Poirier sustained a serious ankle injury, delaying the duo's preparation for the upcoming season.[4] Their assigned events for the 2013–14 Grand Prix season were the NHK Trophy, where they finished fifth, and the Rostelecom Cup, where they placed sixth.[19] Gilles became a Canadian citizen in December 2013,[4] making Gilles and Poirier eligible to participate in the Olympics.

Hampered by Poirier's injury, the duo finished fourth at the 2014 Canadian Championships and were not selected for the Canadian Olympic team. Years later, Gilles would admit that the result "was definitely disappointing, but it really made us who we are right now. We didn't want that big upset to change our goals in the future, and I think that made us stronger, more comfortable with each other, because we really had to lean on each other. So I think it made all of us closer and better as athletes, and more well-rounded."[20] In lieu of the Olympics, they were sent to the 2014 Four Continents Championship, where they won the silver medal, placing behind Gilles' former partner Donohue and his new partner Madison Hubbell. Poirier opined that "we're going to take this competition with us, because it taught us a lot about resilience and about being able to come back so quickly after nationals."[21]

Gilles/Poirier won silver at both of their Grand Prix events, the 2014 Skate Canada International and 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard.[22] These results qualified them for the 2014–15 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where they placed fifth. At the 2015 Canadian Championships, they won the silver medal behind Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje. The two capped off their season with a sixth-place finish at the 2015 World Championships.

Gilles/Poirier opened their season with a win at the 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy. They finished as second alternates for the Grand Prix Final after taking bronze at the 2015 Skate America and silver at the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard. After repeating as national silver medalists at the 2016 Canadian Championships.[23]

They finished fifth at the 2016 Four Continents Championships, a result they considered disappointing, and which prompted significant revisions to their short dance program, which had initially been developed as a mix of music by The Beatles and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The revisions made the dance primarily set to Beatles music. At the 2016 World Championships in Boston, Gilles/Poirier debuted the new program iteration, finishing fifth in the short and making the final flight in the free dance for the first time in their partnership. Poirier called this "something new for us and something that we’ve wanted and it’s one of the things we really hoped we’d be able to do this year."[24] They finished eighth in the free dance, dropping to eighth overall.

Elements of the short dance choreography debuted in Boston were subsequently adopted by the ISU as a new pattern dance called the March, credited to Gilles, Poirier, their coach Carol Lane, and choreographer Juris Razgulajevs.[25]

The 2016–17 season featured the return to competition of Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, which affected the standings of the other Canadian ice dance teams.[20] Gilles/Poirier took bronze at the 2016 Skate Canada International, the 2016 Trophée de France, and the 2017 Canadian Championships. The two struggled with mistakes in their disco-themed short dance for much of the season, with a stumble at the French event and Gilles falling at the 2017 Four Continents Championships. Gilles described the results as "physically hard and definitely tough mentally."[26] They finished eighth at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki.

Gilles/Poirier placed fourth at both of their Grand Prix assignments, the 2017 Skate America and 2017 Rostelecom Cup. Following this, the two opted to change their free dance program mid-season, discarding an initial film noir-themed routine for a James Bond program. Poirier explained that they felt the need for "a more accessible vehicle going into the Olympics and one that (fans) can more readily identify with."[27] Their scores dramatically improved with the new program, and they earned the silver medal at the 2018 Canadian championships, on the way to qualifying for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Gilles described this as "a breath of fresh air because we've worked our entire lives for that Olympic moment, qualifying for the games has always been my dream."[9] The duo placed eighth at their first Olympics, and ended the season with a sixth-place finish at the 2018 World Championships.

For their free dance, Gilles/Poirier envisioned a tribute to the artist Vincent Van Gogh, and arranged for the British busker act Govardo to create a cover version of the Don McLean song "Vincent" that had the tempo changes necessary for an ice dance program.[28] "Vincent" would go on to be the team's most acclaimed program to date. Gilles would later reflect on the season and say: "We find that this program brings a different energy every time we compete it. That’s why so many people can connect with it. It can touch people in so many different emotional ways. Every time we perform it, we’re drawing a new feeling from it."[29]

Gilles and Poirier perform their acclaimed "Vincent" program at the 2018 Internationaux de France

Following Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje's decision not to skate the 2018–19 Grand Prix series, Gilles/Poirier became the top-ranked Canadian team competing there.[28] They won their first outing of the season, the Nebelhorn Trophy, having placed first in both segments. The band Govardo attended the event, meeting them for the first time.[30] At their first Grand Prix event, the 2018 Skate Canada International, Gilles fell during the rhythm dance, leaving them in sixth place. The two set a new personal best in the free dance, rebounding to capture the bronze medal.[31] They won a second bronze medal at the 2018 Internationaux de France, ending as second alternates for the Grand Prix Final.[32] Following this, it was announced that they had been added belatedly to the ice dance competition at the Golden Spin of Zagreb.[33] They won the event, which they described as a means of regaining "positive energy" after missing the Grand Prix Final.[29]

At the 2019 Canadian Championships, Gilles/Poirier placed second in the rhythm dance, behind Weaver/Poje due to lower scores on the Tango Romantica pattern.[34] They won the free dance, but finished second overall by 1.47 points.[35]

At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Gilles/Poirier placed fourth in the rhythm dance, behind Hubbell/Donohue, Madison Chock / Evan Bates, and Weaver/Poje. They achieved their best results to date on the Tango Romantica pattern.[36] In the free dance, they placed second, passing Weaver/Poje in the free for the second event in a row, while Hubbell/Donohue had a major stationary lift error that dropped them to fourth in the free dance and fourth overall. Gilles/Poirier won the bronze medal overall, their first Four Continents podium since 2014.[37] They finished the season at the 2019 World Championships, where they placed seventh.[38]

In designing their rhythm dance for the Broadway musical theme, the team settled on Mack and Mabel, famously used decades earlier by Torvill and Dean, though they sought to avoid closely paralleling the music used in their version.[39] For the free dance, they sought a Canadian artist, as the 2020 World Championships were scheduled to be held in Montreal. Ultimately, they settled on Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", familiar to both of them for its use in the film Love Actually.[40]

Gilles/Poirier began the season at the 2019 Autumn Classic, winning by over eighteen points over silver medalists Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson.[41] For their first Grand Prix assignment, they competed at the 2019 Skate Canada International in Kelowna. They placed second in the rhythm dance, 0.63 points behind defending champions Hubbell/Donohue.[42] They won the free dance and took the gold medal overall by 2.70 points over Hubbell/Donohue, Gilles/Poirier's first Grand Prix gold medal, with Gilles saying they had "worked really hard for this moment."[43] For their second event, the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, they placed second in the free dance behind reigning World silver medalists Sinitsina/Katsalapov.[44] Second in the free dance as well, the won the silver medal and qualified to the Grand Prix Final for the first time in five years. Poirier remarked that they had "had a lot of ups and downs" in the years since, and at times had doubted whether it would happen again.[45]

At the Grand Prix Final in Torino, Gilles/Poirier placed sixth in the rhythm dance, which called "a bit disappointing" in comparison to their earlier Grand Prix results.[46] Fourth in the free dance, they rose to fifth overall, equaling their placement in 2014.[47]

Gilles/Poirier were the heavy favourites going into the 2020 Canadian Championships. At the beginning of the rhythm dance, Gilles' hair became caught on Poirier's jacket, though his only affected their choreography rather than one of the technical elements. They nevertheless completed the program and led second-place finishers Lajoie/Lagha by 11.60 points going in the free dance.[48] Winning the free dance as well by a wide margin, they claimed their first Canadian national title, which Gilles called "absolutely thrilling."[49]

Competing at the 2020 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, Gilles/Poirier placed third in the rhythm dance, levels on the Finnstep pattern dance being the main difference between them and American rivals Chock/Bates and Hubbell/Donohue.[50] Second in the free dance, they rose to the silver medal overall, with Gilles remarking "I think we are very happy with ourselves."[51]