Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada celebrate after performing during the pairs free skating at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

By The Canadian Press

Canadian pair Pereira, Michaud capture bronze at figure skating worlds

Mar 26, 2026 | 10:03 AM

PRAGUE —

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud have won their first medal at the world figure skating championships, and earned some redemption in the process.

The Canadian pair captured bronze Thursday after shattering their personal best with 140.57 points in a beautiful free skate to music from the film “Gladiator.” They finished with 216.09 overall after placing third in Wednesday’s short program.

The two skaters broke out in cheers when the scores confirmed their place on the podium, with Michaud shouting “Yes!” in the kiss-and-cry at O2 Arena.

“It’s a little hard to describe right now, the roller-coaster of emotions before we step on the ice and then while we’re on the ice and throughout the program,” the 22-year-old Pereira told reporters. “We’re just really proud of how we handled all of it. We skated our hearts out and left it all out there, and I think that was shown, so we’re very happy.”

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Olympic bronze medallists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany won gold with 228.33, finishing well ahead of silver medallists Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia (218.41).

The bronze medal capped a banner season for Pereira and Michaud, who won their first national title in January. It was also a bounce back from a disappointing Milan Cortina Winter Games.

Pereira, of Milton, Ont., and Michaud, of Trenton, Ont., also placed third in the short program in their Olympic debut last month, but slipped to eighth following a series of mistakes in the free skate.

On Thursday, they delivered a near-flawless program — Michaud put his hand down on their side-by-side triple salchow — to rank second on the day.

“We took a lot of confidence from (the Games),” said Michaud, 29. “Having the experiences at the Olympics, skating great programs at the Olympics, and then taking that from here into this helped us be able to perform the way we wanted to.

“Knowing that we focused on ourselves and what we could do, we could achieve what we wanted to, and we’ve done that today.”

Pereira and Michaud’s previous best at worlds was a sixth-place finish in 2023. They teamed up in August 2022.

Fellow Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier placed 19th (167.75).

The post-Olympic world championships featured a slightly weakened field, with gold medallists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan withdrawing from the event.

Canada’s former world champion pair of Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps was also absent. The duo almost missed the Olympics after Stellato-Dudek hit her head on the ice during a training session in late January. She received medal clearance for the Games days before the individual pairs event.

Earlier Thursday, Canada’s Stephen Gogolev continued his breakout season with a fifth-place finish in the men’s singles short program.

In his world championship debut, Gogolev posted a personal-best 94.38 points with a clean skate to “Mugzy’s Move” by American swing band Royal Crown Revue.

“I felt like I was really able to put out the performance that I really wanted to and give energy throughout the program,” Gogolev said.

Two-time world champion Ilia Malinin of the United States led the field with 111.29 points, bouncing back after he unravelled with an error-filled free skate and fell from first to eighth at last month’s Milan Cortina Winter Games. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa sat second (101.85) and Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko was third (96.49).

Gogolev is coming off placing fifth in Milan, landing just 1.12 points off the podium in his Olympic debut.

Once a child prodigy, the 21-year-old from Toronto is making a name for himself on the senior international stage after years of back injuries kept him off the ice.

“It was definitely a hard few years in the previous seasons, but I’m very happy, and I think it creates for quite a good story,” Gogolev said. “Now I’m back at the highest level that I’ve ever been.

“(The Olympics) definitely increased my confidence quite a bit in that I’m able to compete at a much higher level than I expected to be at the beginning of the season. I’m not really sure if I feel any difference in expectations, I would say, because I think the goal for every competition is to just to do the best I can.”

The men’s free program is scheduled for Saturday. Gogolev could secure a second entry for Canada at next year’s world championships with a top-10 placement.

Competition continues Friday with the rhythm dance and women’s free skate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.

The Canadian Press