Paul Poirier is a figure skater who has represented Canada in competitions. He competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 and 2018. Despite competing with Vanessa Crone in Vancouver in 2010, he switched partners eight years later to compete with Piper Gilles. Paul Poirier is a figure skater who has represented Canada in competitions. He competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 and 2018. Despite competing with Vanessa Crone in Vancouver in 2010, he switched partners eight years later to compete with Piper Gilles.
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Early Life, Education and Family
Paul Poirier was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Debra Mendes de Franca and Marc Poirier on November 6, 1991. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics from the University of Toronto in 2015. He is continuing his linguistics graduate studies part-time. He can communicate in English, French, Japanese, and Spanish. His younger brother was a member of the Ontario Hockey League.
Career
Paul Poirier and Vanessa Crone
In 1996, Paul Poirier began learning to skate. He competed in single skating, ice dancing, and pair skating with Vanessa Crone early in his career. In May of 2001, the two began skating together.
Crone/Poirier debuted as ice dancers in September 2005, placing seventh in the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) in Andorra. They won bronze at the 2006 JGP in Norway the following season before winning the national junior title at the 2007 Canadian Championships. At the 2007 World Junior Championships, the duo finished ninth.
Crone/Poirier finished fourth in the JGP Final after winning gold in both of their JGP assignments. They finished fourth in the senior division at the 2008 Canadian Championships. Their season was capped off with a silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships. Crone/Poirier made their senior Grand Prix debut in 2008, winning silver at Skate Canada and fourth at the Trophée Éric Bompard. They competed in the 2009 Four Continents Championships in Vancouver, finishing fourth after winning silver behind Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir at the Canadian Championships. At the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, they came in 12th place.
Crone/Poirier won bronze at the 2009 NHK Trophy and finished fourth at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup, their other Grand Prix event.
They repeated as national silver medalists at the 2010 Canadian Championships and were nominated to represent Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics. They came in fourteenth place at the Olympics and seventh place at the 2010 World Championships.
Crone/Poirier started their season with a gold medal at the 2010 Skate Canada International, beating Sinead Kerr and John Kerr, who fell in the free dance. Poirier fell in the free dance at the 2010 Skate America, but their score was good enough for silver behind Meryl Davis / Charlie White, who both fell, and ahead of Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani, who had no falls. Their performance qualified them for the Grand Prix Final in 2010–11, where they took home the bronze medal.
Crone/Poirier won the Canadian national title over Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje at the 2011 Canadian Championships, despite the absence of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir due to Virtue’s injury. They finished tenth at the 2011 World Championships and won bronze at the 2011 Four Continents Championships in Taipei.
Crone and Poirier announced the end of their ten-year collaboration on June 2, 2011. He stated that he would look for a new partner to continue his competitive career and that he would not rule out looking internationally.
Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles
Paul Poirier reached out to Piper Gilles for a tryout. The two confirmed that they will be representing Canada together on July 27, 2011. They were unable to compete internationally in their first season due to Gilles’ need for a release from US Figure Skating. They chose to train with Carol Lane of the Scarboro Figure Skating Club at the Ice Galaxy in Scarborough, Ontario. In early June, Christopher Dean choreographed their free dance in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Gilles/Poirier won bronze at the 2012 Canadian Championships. Due to their ineligibility for international play, fourth-place finishers Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill were assigned to the third-world team that season.
In September 2012, Gilles and Poirier won gold at the US Classic. Their Grand Prix assignments were the 2012 Skate Canada International and the 2012 Trophée Éric Bompard. Before winning silver at the 2013 Canadian Championships, they finished fourth and sixth in both events. They took bronze in the free dance at the 2013 Four Continents Championships, finishing fifth overall. Their first World Championships, held in London, Ontario, saw them finish eighth.
In May 2013, Paul Poirier suffered a major ankle injury, delaying the team’s preparation for the upcoming season. Their assigned tournaments for the 2013–14 Grand Prix season were the NHK Trophy, where they finished fifth, and the Rostelecom Cup, where they finished sixth. Gilles became a Canadian citizen in December 2013, allowing him and Poirier to compete in the Olympics.
Due to Paul Poirier’s injury, the couple finished fourth in the 2014 Canadian Championships and were not selected for the Canadian Olympic team. Gilles would later admit that the outcome “was definitely disappointing… We didn’t want that big upset to change our goals in the future, and I think that made us stronger, and more comfortable with each other because we really had to lean on each other. So I think it made all of us closer and better as athletes, and more well-rounded.” Instead of going to the Olympics, they were sent to the 2014 Four Continents Championship, where they took silver, finishing behind Gilles’ former partner Donohue and his new partner Madison Hubbell.
Gilles/Poirier won silver in both of their Grand Prix tournaments, the 2014 Skate Canada International and the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard. In 2014–15, they qualified for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where they placed sixth. At the 2015 Canadian Championships, they finished second to Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje. Their season came to an end with a sixth-place result in the 2015 World Championships.
Gilles/Poirier won the Ondrej Nepela Trophy for the first time this season. After winning bronze at the 2015 Skate America and silver at the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard, they qualified for the Grand Prix Final as second alternates. For the second year in a row, she won national silver in the 2016 Canadian Championships.
They finished sixth in the 2016 Four Continents Championships, a poor showing that caused them to make extensive revisions to their short dance routine, which had been planned as a blend of Beatles and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart music. After the alterations, the dance was usually set to Beatles music. Gilles/Poirier debuted the revised program iteration at the 2016 World Championships in Boston, finishing fifth in the short dance and qualifying for the free dance final flight for the first time in their relationship. They finished eighth overall and eighth in the free dance.
Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir’s comeback to competition in the 2016–17 season had an impact on the other Canadian ice dance teams’ standings. Gilles/Poirier earned bronze at the 2016 Skate Canada International, the 2016 Trophée de France, and the 2017 Canadian Championships. The two made blunders in their disco-themed short dance for much of the season, with Gilles falling in the 2017 Four Continents Championships and a slip in the French tournament. The results were “physically difficult and mentally taxing,” according to Gilles. They finished seventh at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki.
Paul Poirier Age
Paul Poirier is 32 years old. He was born on November 6, 1991.
Paul Poirier Net Worth
Paul Poirier’s net worth is $1.5 Million. He made this from his main career as an ice dancer.
Is Paul Poirier gay?
Yes, Paul Poirier is gay. He confirmed this in an interview with The Glory.
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