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Lajoie & Lagha Post Top Canadian Result on First Day of Ice Dance Competition at the Grand Prix Final
December 6, 2024/by Skate Canada
Grenoble, France (December 6, 2024) – The senior ice dance competition at the ISU Grand Prix Final kicked off Friday in Grenoble, France and saw Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha post the top Canadian result after an uncharacteristic fall by Paul Poirier left he and Piper Gilles in sixth place.
Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., came into the competition fresh off silver medal performances at Skate Canada International and the Cup of China and skated first with their Austin Powers inspired rhythm dance. They posted a score of 77.73 to finish the day ranked fourth.
“We’re very happy, it was really good. We just had fun. We would much rather do our best performance and then score whatever, then feel like we didn’t do our best and get an amazing score,” said Lagha as he referenced their performance at Skate Canada International where they felt they didn’t skate as well but received a higher score.
Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., came into the competition ranked third in the Grand Prix standings after capturing their fifth-straight Skate Canada International title and a silver medal at the Finlandia Trophy, but after Poirier caught his foot on the board and fell during their rhythm dance, the team scored a 72.15 to finish the day ranked sixth.
“You never want to come out and make large errors so that’s disappointing for us, but we have to focus on the job for tomorrow and I think when we get home, focus on the positives of this event – there were some improvements that were made in the program,” said Poirier following the competition. “When we get home, we’ll look at how we’re training and making sure that we’re prepared to not make mistakes in competition when we go into the second half of the season.”
The reigning World Champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA, are sitting in first heading into the free dance on Saturday with a score of 87.73. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy sit second (83.12), while Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain sit third (82.31).
The competition wraps up tomorrow with the senior free dance and the junior pair free program for the Canadian team.
Amber Glenn is the first American woman to win the Grand Prix Final since Alissa Czisny in 2010!
becomes the 10th American to win the JGP Final men’s title. He is the first U.S. man to win the Junior Grand Prix Final title since Alex Krasnozhon won in 2017.
Noemi Maria Tali / Noah Lafornara are the first Italian ice dance team to win the JGP Final since Federica Faiella / Luciano Milo in 1997!
Jiaxuan Zhang / Yihang Huang are the first Chinese pair team to win the JGP Final since Xiaoyu Yu / Yang Jin in 2013!
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won ice dance bronze at the Grand Prix Final - the first ever GB medal at the event!
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Bronze for Desrochers and Thrasher to Close-out ISU Grand Prix Final
December 7, 2024/by Skate Canada
Grenoble, France (December 7, 2024) – The ISU Grand Prix Final wrapped up Saturday in Grenoble, France and saw the Canadian junior pair of Jazmine Desrochers and Kieran Thrasher capture the bronze medal for the second year in a row while Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier bounced back from a difficult showing on Friday to post the second-highest score of the day in the senior ice dance competition to finish fifth overall, just behind Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha in fourth.
It was a difficult skate for Desrochers of Mississauga, Ont., and Thrasher of Amherstburg, Ont., with falls on both of their throws amidst some other challenges, but their final score of 152.82 was enough to secure them the bronze medal behind Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang of China who won gold (176.09), and Olivia Flores and Luke Wang of the USA who took silver (155.82).
“We thought our performance was decent, but that’s the best word to describe it,” said Thrasher following the competition. “I think we showed some good elements, and there were other elements that had mistakes unfortunately, but overall I think we showed a good performance to everyone.”
Making their Grand Prix final debut, Julia Quattrocchi of Laval, Que., and Simon Desmarais of Carignan, Que., skated a beautiful, clean program to finish the competition ranked sixth in the world with a new personal best total score of 139.13.
The senior ice dance competition wrapped up the weekend for Canada and saw Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., finish as the top Canadians, just off the podium in fourth with a total score of 199.84.
“We don’t control results, we control how we skate, and we skated both programs very well and the results came, so it’s a cherry on top – we’re happy for sure,” said Lajoie of their accomplishment.
Gilles of Toronto and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., were the first to skate after sitting in sixth following their rhythm dance and skated a flawless program to “A Whiter Shade of Pale” to post the second-highest score of the day, moving them up to finish fifth overall with a total score of 199.27.
“Today was challenging just because we had an error yesterday in the rhythm dance. It’s always hard after a mistake to come into the next program the next day and not doubt yourself, so being able to come out here and do a strong performance is a testament to our training and we’re really proud of what we accomplished today,” said Poirier.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA repeated as gold medallists for the second year in a row with a total score of 219.85. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy took silver (206.11), while Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain took bronze (205.18).
This wraps up the Grand Prix season for 2024. Next up on the competition calendar are the Canadian National Skating Championships taking place from January 14-19 at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
