The final of the recent ice dance World medalists to make their competitive debut this season will happen this week at 2025 Skate Canada International. We’ve seen almost all of the Olympic medal contenders on the Challenger Series and Grand Prix already, but one has been missing so far, and that’s four-time World medalists Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier. It will be another strong competition in the ice dance event, and one surely to not miss, if only for the later-season implications.

2025 Skate Canada predictions
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GOLD Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier CAN - Besides the fact that I’m over-the-top excited for Paul Poirier’s corset look in the rhythm dance, I’m also excited because this is the first time we are seeing Gilles/Poirier compete this season (finally!). They are the last of the Olympic title contenders to debut, and much like last week with Chock/Bates’ debut, the scores they get here will be of interest to all who are trying to figure out the early pecking order of this crucial season.

SILVER Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius LTU - By far, Reed/Ambrulevicius are the most prepared of the teams here—they had to be at close to peak condition to qualify their spot for the Olympics in mid-September, so their programs had to be well-trained early on. And that was evident two weeks ago when they took bronze at Grand Prix de France.

BRONZE Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha CAN - The Canadian silver medalists had a later start to their season than they would’ve liked, but they took advantage of their debut and won Budapest Trophy three weeks ago. They returned to an old free dance for the Olympic season, and it will certainly be close for those silver and bronze medal spots.

4. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko USA - Silver at Nebelhorn Trophy, Carreira/Ponomarenko start their Grand Prix after racking up two medals in last year’s Grand Prix series. They will be competitive among the three teams vying for podium spots outside of Gilles/Poirier—their rhythm dance placement may be the key.

5. Marie-Jade Lauriault/Romain le Gac CAN - After winning Kinoshita Group Cup in early September, Lauriault/le Gac took sixth two weeks ago at Grand Prix de France. They will be skating at their home Grand Prix for the first time.

6. Katerina Mrazkova/Daniel Mrazek CZE - They had a solid start at Lombardia Trophy with silver. Their strength has often been the free dance, and some of their free dance lift levels at Lombardia Trophy kept them from scoring higher there. They will want to have cleaned that up going into this week.

7. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville USA - Grand Prix de France was a disappointing start for Bratti/Somerville, who had a mistake on their midline step sequence in the rhythm dance and dug themselves into a hole early. They have the potential to be in the top five here if they can put down two clean skates.

8. Hannah Lim/Ye Quan KOR - The late entrants into this event, Lim/Quan are going back-to-back in Grand Prix events after a career-high Grand Prix finish of fifth last week at Cup of China. Another skate like that, and they can be competitive for the top five here as well.

9. Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan GER - Fourth at home at Nebelhorn Trophy, the four-time German champions are looking to put down numbers similar to what they got there to be competitive among this group of dance teams.

10. Leah Neset/Artem Markelov USA - The 2024 World junior champions come in after a bronze at Kinoshita Group Cup and a fifth-place finish at Denis Ten Memorial. It will be tough for them to break into this deep field.