Piper Gilles (; born January 16, 1992) is an American-Canadian ice dancer who currently represents Canada internationally. With Paul Poirier, she is a two-time World bronze medalist (2021 and 2023) and 2022–23 Grand Prix Final champion, as well as a three-time Four Continents medalist (silver in 2014 and 2020, bronze in 2019), four-time Skate Canada International champion (2019, 2021–23), and two-time Canadian national champion (2020, 2022). Gilles and Poirier competed for Canada at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.
Earlier in her career, Gilles competed for the United States with Timothy McKernan and Zachary Donohue, winning four medals altogether on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series.
Personal life
Piper Gilles was born January 16, 1992, in Rockford, Illinois. She attended Cheyenne Mountain High School. Her mother and grandmother are Canadian. She herself became a Canadian citizen on December 17, 2013. Her older brother, Todd, competed in ice dancing and her twin sister, Alexe, in singles. The Gilles family household in Colorado routinely played host to other skaters training in the area during her childhood, including Adam Rippon, Liam Firus and Yukina Ota.
Gilles studied fashion design at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in Toronto, Ontario. She is dyslexic, and has served as a spokeswoman for the Ontario chapter of the International Dyslexia Association.
On June 21, 2022, Gilles became engaged to her boyfriend, Nathan Kelly. They married on September 3 of the same year, announcing this publicly on Valentine's Day of 2023.
In May 2023, Gilles revealed she had been treated for stage 1 ovarian cancer. The procedure included removing her left ovary and an appendectomy as a precautionary measure.
Career
Early career
Gilles began learning to skate in 1994. She teamed up with Timothy McKernan in January 2003 after skating with him earlier on a temporary basis. They began competing on the juvenile level in 2004, winning the bronze medal. In 2005, they became the intermediate dance champions. The duo won the junior pewter medal at the 2007 U.S. Championships and silver the following year at the 2008 U.S. Championships. They announced the end of their partnership on May 22, 2008. The partnership ended due to Gilles having physically outgrown McKernan.
Gilles teamed up with Zachary Donohue in the summer of 2008. They made their international debut at the 2008–2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, which they won. At their second event, in Cape Town, South Africa, they won the silver medal. They won the bronze medal on the junior level at the 2009 U.S. Championships.
After repeating as national bronze medalists, Gilles/Donohue finished ninth at the 2010 World Junior Championships. Their split was announced in May 2010. Reflecting on the end of the partnership years later, Gilles would say that she and Donohue were "very similar - very emotional and driven - but it didn’t work for us. And we tried, we tried so hard to make it work, and again, it just wasn’t the right partnership for either of us."
With the likelihood of finding a new partner low, Gilles decided to pursue other avenues, moving to Los Angeles. She appeared in the band Simple Plan's music video for the song "Can't Keep My Hands off You", and was offered the role of Rapunzel in Disney on Ice's production of Tangled.
2011–2012 season: Debut of Gilles/Poirier
Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier contacted Gilles to arrange a tryout. On July 27, 2011, the two confirmed they had teamed up to represent Canada. They were unable to compete internationally in their first season due to Gilles needing a release from U.S. Figure Skating. They decided to train under Carol Lane at the Scarboro Figure Skating Club at the Ice Galaxy in Scarborough, Ontario. Their free dance was choreographed by Christopher Dean in Colorado Springs, Colorado in early June.
Gilles/Poirier won the bronze medal at the 2012 Canadian Championships. Due to their ineligibility for international competition that season, fourth-place finishers Kharis Ralph / Asher Hill took the third world team spot that season.
2012–2013 season
In September 2012, Gilles and Poirier won gold at the U.S. Classic. They received two Grand Prix assignments, 2012 Skate Canada International and 2012 Trophée Éric Bompard. They finished fourth and sixth at the two events and then won the silver medal at the 2013 Canadian Championships. They were fifth at the 2013 Four Continents Championships, winning a small bronze medal in the free dance. Appearing at their first World Championships, held in London, Ontario, they placed eighteenth.