By The Canadian Press

Canadian ice dancers Gilles, Poirier earn long-awaited Olympic bronze in Milan

Feb 11, 2026 | 1:00 AM

MILAN — Canada got its storybook finish in figure skating on Day 5 of the Milan Cortina Olympics, as Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier secured a place on the podium in ice dance.

Gilles and Poirier earned their long-awaited Olympic medal, capturing bronze with a season’s best 131.56 in the free dance for a total of 217.74.

Skating to Govardo’s cover of “Vincent,” the veteran Canadians broke down in tears as their score confirmed a podium finish.

“It was such a wonderful skate. And we felt like we had the whole crowd there with us from the beginning until the end,” Poirier said. “Once we have a little bit more time to process, we will find more things to uncover.”

France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won gold with 225.82, while Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates took silver at 224.39.

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The bronze is Canada’s fourth medal of the Games and its first in figure skating since 2018, placing the country 13th in the medal count rankings after Day 5 with Norway leading at 13 in total.

There was some disappointment on the speedskating oval as Laurent Dubreuil finished eighth in the men’s 1,000 metres, four years after winning Olympic silver in the event. American star Jordan Stolz won gold, followed by Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands and Ning Zhongyan of China.

In Livigno, Canada had a shot to add to its medal total earlier Wednesday in women’s freeski moguls after Saskatoon’s Maia Schwinghammer advanced to the second final, but she finished fifth despite a solid run. Elizabeth Lemley and Jaelin Kauf won gold and silver for the United States. Perrine Laffont of France, the 2018 gold medallist, took bronze.

“Fifth place at the Olympics, not so bad,” Schwinghammer said after the competition, noting she felt she “left a lot on the field” in the first final and “made a little mistake” wanting to push more in the second.

Laffont’s score of 78 was just .39 better than Schwinghammer’s.

“I know I had more to give out there, but to be 0.39 (points) off third place with the run that had mistakes in it … I know I’m right there,” the Canadian said.

Toronto skier James (Jack) Crawford placed 16th in the men’s super-G in Bormio. Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen claimed his third gold of the Games, becoming just the third man to win three Alpine events at one Olympics. American Ryan Cochran-Siegle was second and Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt third.

In men’s curling, Brad Jacobs opened round-robin play by steering Canada to a 7-6 extra-end win over Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz. Jacobs used last rock to make a nose hit for the victory after Germany forced overtime with a deuce in the 10th.

Jacobs said the team will benefit from being pushed in its first match.

“I think the more that we can go deep into games, make the last shot to win like that, you want to get comfortable doing that and doing it in Game 1 is great,” said Jacobs, who was perfect on his draws and shot a team-high 93 per cent in the match.

Earlier in the day, some members of Canada’s Olympic team sent condolences back home for those affected by Tuesday’s mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Canada men’s hockey general manager Doug Armstrong said real life “trumps anything we’re doing here.”

“You think about tragedies that happen … usually they happen somewhere else, so you never really feel the effect of it touching close to home. But this one’s close to home, and my heart goes out to all the families,” added head coach Jon Cooper, who is from Prince George, B.C., the closest major city to Tumbler Ridge.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026.

The Canadian Press