Marie-Jade Lauriault (born 10 November 1996) is a Canadian-French
ice dancer
Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...
who currently represents Canada with her partner and husband
Romain Le Gac, in which capacity she is the
2022 Skate America bronze medalist.
Lauriault and Le Gac initially represented his birth country of France upon partnering in 2014, winning four silver medals at the
French Championships
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and a national junior title, and representing France at the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
. Internationally they won four
Challenger medals, including gold at the
2019 CS Warsaw Cup, before switching to represent Canada in the summer of 2021.
Personal life
Marie-Jade Lauriault was born on 10 November 1996 in
Laval, Quebec
Laval (; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in C ...
.
[ She married Le Gac in December 2015.][ As of August 2016, she is studying psychology.][ She became a French citizen in December 2017.][
]
Career
Early years
Lauriault started skating in 2001.[ At the age of eight, she began taking ice dancing lessons taught by Pascal Denis and was soon paired with Pierre-Richard Chiasson. Lauriault/Chiasson placed eighth at the novice level at the 2013 Canadian Championships.][
]
2014–15 season: Debut of Lauriault/Le Gac
In July 2014, Lauriault was paired with French skater Romain Le Gac, who had just moved to Canada.[ The two decided to represent France. They are coached by Romain Haguenauer, ]Patrice Lauzon
Patrice Lauzon (born November 26, 1975) is a Canadian ice dancing coach and former competitor. With his wife Marie-France Dubreuil, he is a two-time (2006–2007) World silver medalist.
Personal life
Patrice Lauzon was born in Montreal, Quebec, ...
, Pascal Denis, and Marie-France Dubreuil
Marie-France Dubreuil (born August 11, 1974) is a Canadian ice dancing coach and former competitor. With her husband Patrice Lauzon, she is a two-time (2006–2007) World silver medallist.
Personal life
Marie-France Dubreuil was born on Augu ...
in Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
.[
Lauriault/Le Gac competed on the senior level in the 2014–15 season. They won silver at the Open d'Andorra and finished ninth at the 2014 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb before taking silver at the ]French Championships
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
.
2015–16 season: International junior season
Lauriault/Le Gac decided to compete on the junior level in 2015–16. They won two medals on the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series — silver in Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
, Austria and gold in Logroño
Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...
, Spain. Their results gave them a spot at the JGP Final in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, where they finished fifth.
In February 2016, Lauriault/Le Gac won gold at the French Junior Championships ahead of Abachkina/ Thauron. In March, they represented France at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen
Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...
, Hungary, and won a small bronze medal after placing third in the short dance. They finished eighth overall. Over eight days in April, they skated in ten ice shows in France.[
]
2016–17 season: Grand Prix, European and World debuts
Returning to the senior ranks for the pre-Olympic season, Lauriault/Le Gac placed fifth at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International
The 2016 CS Autumn Classic International was a figure skating competition held from September 28 – October 1, 2016 at the Sportsplexe Pierrefonds in Montreal, Quebec. It was part of the 2016–17 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in t ...
. They were then invited to make their senior Grand Prix debut, finishing sixth at both the 2016 NHK Trophy and the 2017 Internationaux de France
The 2017 Internationaux de France was the 5th event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, ...
.[
After winning silver at the French championships for the second time at the senior level, Lauriault/Le Gac made their European Championship debut at the 2017 edition in ]Ostrava
Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four riv ...
, coming twelfth. They won gold at the Cup of Nice The International Cup of Nice (french: Coupe Internationale de Nice) is an annual international figure skating competition usually held in October or November in Nice, France. It was continuously held from 1995 to 2017 (except 2005) for 22 years. T ...
before making their World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
debut in Helsinki, finishing twenty-first in the rhythm dance and thereby narrowly missing the cut for the free dance. They were also invited to participate as part of Team France at the World Team Trophy The ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating is a figure skating team competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. The World Team Trophy was held for the first time in Tokyo, Japan from April 16 to 19, 2009. Traditionally, the competit ...
, finishing sixth among dance teams while France also came sixth overall.[
]
2017–18 season: Pyeongchang Olympics
Sixth at the Autumn Classic to start the season, Lauriault/Le Gac were eighth at both the 2017 NHK Trophy
The 2017 NHK Trophy was the 4th event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held in Osaka on November 10–12. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of me ...
and the 2017 Rostelecom Cup
The 2017 Rostelecom Cup was the first event of six in the 2017–18 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Megasport Arena in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus ...
on the Grand Prix. They won silver at the French championships for the third time and, as a result, were named to the French team for the 2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
in Pyeongchang. They finished twelfth at the 2018 European Championships
The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...
shortly afterward.[
French national champions Papadakis/ Cizeron declined to participate in the Olympic team event, allowing Lauriault/Le Gac to do so. They finished sixth in the rhythm dance segment, but Team France was tenth among ten teams after the first round and did not advance to the free portion of the competition. They then participated in the ice dance event, qualifying to the free dance and finishing seventeenth in their Olympic debut.][ Lauriault/Le Gac finished the season with a thirteenth-place finish at the post-Olympic World Championships in ]Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.[
]
2018–19 season: Challenger medals
Lauriault/Le Gac won two medals on the Challenger series to begin the season, taking the bronze at both the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy
The 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy was held in October 2018 in Espoo. It was part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
Entries
The Internation ...
and the 2018 CS Inge Solar Memorial.[ On the Grand Prix, they finished fourth at the ]2018 Skate Canada International
The 2018 Skate Canada International was the second event of the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec from October 26–28. Medals we ...
, 6.65 points behind bronze medalists Gilles
The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditio ...
/ Poirier of Canada.[ They were then sixth on home ice at the ]2018 Internationaux de France
The 2018 Internationaux de France was the sixth event of six in the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble on November 23–25. Med ...
.[
French national silver medalists once again, Lauriault/Le Gac were tenth at the 2019 European Championships and fourteenth at the 2019 World Championships in Saitama.][
]
2019–20 season: Struggles
After a bronze medal win at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International, Lauriault/Le Gac struggled in the early going, coming eighth at both the 2019 Skate America and the 2019 Internationaux de France
The 2019 Internationaux de France was the third event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble, France from November 1–3. Me ...
. They won gold at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup, their first Challenger title, but came fourth at the French championships and thus did not make the European Championship team.[ They were assigned to compete at the 2020 World Championships, to be held in ]Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
near their training center, but the event was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.[
]
2021–22 season: Switch to Canada
After not competing at all during the COVID-plagued 2020–21 season, Lauriault and Le Gac announced on June 6, 2021, that they would henceforth be representing her birth country of Canada.[ Lauriault would later say that it had been a difficult decision but that "with the pandemic, we certainly realized that we are very much at home in Canada, that our life is there. We felt that more and more as the years progressed, and Romain has established himself there as well. It is also complicated with me studying and Romain working in Canada."][
After competing domestically in the fall, Lauriault/Le Gac qualified for the 2022 Canadian Championships, held without an audience in Ottawa due to the spread of the ]Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
. They finished fifth in their first appearance at the Canadian nationals, with Lauriault saying, "it wasn't perfect, but it was what we were hoping for."[ Their result earned them an assignment to the 2022 Four Continents Championships in ]Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
.[ Competing at Four Continents, their first international event in two years, they were fifth after the rhythm dance but dropped to sixth when Lauriault fell on her twizzles in the free dance. Despite the "technical error", she insisted afterward, "it was a great experience today; these are still good memories."][
]
2022–23 season: First Grand Prix medal
Beginning the season at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic, Lauriault/Le Gac finished in fourth place, 3.36 points behind American bronze medalists McNamara/ Spiridonov.[ Given two Grand Prix assignments representing Canada for the first time, they competed first at the 2022 Skate America and won the bronze medal, their first Grand Prix medal. Le Gac said afterward that it was a significant competition for them because they had not competed on the Grand Prix since 2019, while Lauriault called it a "life-changing experience."][ They then appeared at the ]2022 Skate Canada International
The 2022 Skate Canada International is the second event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It will be held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario on ...
the following weekend, setting new personal bests and finishing in fifth place.[
Lauriault/Le Gac won the gold medal at the 2022–23 Skate Canada Challenge to qualify to the 2023 Canadian Championships. Lauriault said of the reception of their '']The Pink Panther
''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...
'' program, "we've put so much work into our choreography this year, and we are pleased people are enjoying it as much as we enjoy performing it."[
]
Programs
(with Le Gac)
Competitive highlights
''GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix''
With Le Gac
For Canada
For France
With Chiasson
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauriault, Marie-Jade
1996 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Laval, Quebec
French female ice dancers
Canadian female ice dancers
Canadian emigrants to France
Naturalized citizens of France
Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Olympic figure skaters of France