MONTREAL, CANADA (March 23, 2024) – Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier harnessed the energy of the Canadian crowds at the Bell Centre in Montreal to skate to a silver medal in ice dance at the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday, while Ilia Malinin of the USA set a new World Record with his free skate to win the men’s competition.

In third place after the rhythm dance on Friday, Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., performed a clean free dance that earned them the highest score of the day – a new personal best score of 133.17. Combined with their rhythm dance score, they finished the competition with a new personal best total score of 219.68 to capture their first World Championships silver medal.

“We really felt the energy of our Canadians at home, and we didn’t let the moment pass us. We stepped up to the plate, and as the program went along, we just embraced that character and let it sail and I think you can really see the emotion between the two of us as the program goes on,” said Gilles who captured a bronze medal with Poirier at last year’s World Championships.

“This was such a special skate for us,” added an emotional Poirier. “The crowd carried us through it and gave us so much. And I think it was just such a gift that we could give back to them in our own way. It was just a moment that we’ll remember for a long time.”

Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., continued their storybook worlds, securing another personal best score with their free dance of 125.71 to finish the competition fifth overall with a new personal best total score of 208.01.

“I was pretty stressed for today, but as soon as the music started, the stress went away, and I was really happy about that. I could enjoy every step of the free dance and really connect and enjoy our moment,” said Lajoie who finished 11^th at the 2022 World Championships with Lagha.

The free skate offered some redemption for Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, Que., who came into Saturday’s competition sitting 10^th after a small mistake in their rhythm dance. They skated an elegant free dance to move up to finish 9^th overall with a total score of 199.91.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA repeated as World Champions, taking the win with a season’s best total score of 222.20, while Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy took the bronze medal with a total score 216.52.

The record books were rewritten in the men’s competition as Ilia Malinin of the USA set a new World Record of 227.79 for his free skate that featured six quad jumps, including the quad axel. His total score of 333.76 earned him his first World Championships title in commanding fashion. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan earned his third world silver medal with a score of 309.65, while Adam Siao Him Fa of France made a meteoric rise from 19^th after the short program to take bronze with a total score of 284.39.

Wesley Chiu of Vancouver, B.C., posted the top Canadian men’s score of the evening. He ended the competition in 17^th after he had some technical errors but still posted a strong performance to finish with a total score of 227.21.

“I’ve learned a lot (from this experience) with this being my first Worlds,” said Chiu who won his first Canadian Championship title this year. “Skating at home, in a sold-out arena isn’t something you can really replicate in training, and I think that gaining that experience has been really helpful for when hopefully, I am in the last flight, and have to lay it down in that high pressure scenario.”

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughn, Ont., was unable to replicate the form he showed in his short program, and dropped to finish in 19^th place overall with a total score of 221.57.

With the competition side of the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships now concluded, all of the medallists from the event will perform on Sunday with several special guests for the Exhibition Gala at the Bell Centre.

For full results please click here.