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Canadian skaters have a good shot at podium finishes in all disciplines after strong short programs on Friday at the 2025 Finnish Cup.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took second place with 79.56 points in their rhythm dance to the song “Supermodel.” [You Better Work]RuPaul. The two-time World Ice Dance silver medalists trail only Laurence Fournier Baudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France (79.89).
Fournier Baudry is from Montreal and previously represented Canada alongside Nicolai Sorensen before his six-year suspension for sexual misconduct was overturned.
This season she teamed up with Cizeron, the 2022 Olympic champion, and the new partners won gold at the French Grand Prix in October.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier take second place in an extremely intense rhythm dance competition at the ISU Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki.
In the men's short program, Steven Gogolev also finished second with a score of 89.35 points, close to his personal best of 90.19 set earlier in the season, after two quadruple jumps and a triple Axel in clean skating.
The 20-year-old from Toronto, who is enjoying a comeback season after years of injury, finished ahead of Olympic champion and three-time world silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who was third with a score of 88.16 after a couple of errors.
European champion and world bronze medalist Adam Siao Khim Fa led with 92.50 points heading into Saturday's free skate. Defending national champion Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., placed sixth (82.91).
Gogolev and Sadovsky are competing in the same event for the fourth time this season as the two contenders for Canada's lone men's bid for February's Milan-Cortina Olympics. The selection will be determined after January's national championships in Gatineau, Quebec.
Steven Gogolev of Canada scored 89.35 after a short skate on Friday and is in second place at the Finnish Grand Prix in Helsinki.
Three-time Canadian champion Madeline Skizas, bidding for Canada's only women's Olympic spot, was third in her short program with a score of 65.16 points. The leader was Amber Glenn of the United States (75.72), followed by Monet Chiba of Japan (72.89).
Madeline Skizas of Oakville, Ont., scored 65.16 points to finish third in the women's short program at the Finnish Grand Prix in Helsinki.
In pairs, Canada's Lia Pereira and Trenne Michaud finished fourth with a score of 70.13, but remained within striking distance of the podium in a very tight field.
Minerva Fabien Haese and Nikita Volodin of Germany led the way with a score of 70.40 points, ahead of American pairs Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea (70.24) and Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanova (70.19).
The Finland Trophy is the last of the six Grand Prix series events and the last chance to qualify for the Grand Prix Final – a mid-season measure for the top six in each discipline – which will be held Dec. 5-8 in Nagoya, Japan.
