Gilles, Poirier overcome wardrobe snafu to lead short dance

Piper Gilles leaned in to inspect one of the bottom buttons on Paul Poirier's shirt Friday and pulled a silvery hair from the outfit. "There's still hair coming off his costume," Gilles said with a laugh. The country's top ice dance team overcame an awkward wardrobe malfunction to win the short dance competition at the Canadian figure skating championships.

Their quickstep program went awry just seconds in when Gilles looped under Poirier's arm and caught the top of her braided crown of hair in Poirier's button. It took several seconds — with Gilles stuck, bent at the waist, her mouth agape in shock — for Poirier to unhook them.

"I even said 'Should we stop?'" Gilles said. "No, no, no."

The duo scored 88.86 points, well ahead of Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, last year's world junior champions who were second with 77.26. Carolane Soucisse and Shane Firus scored 75.83 to finish third.

Alicia Pineault of Montreal is the leader after the women's short program.

Wardrobe malfunctions are a hazard in the glittery, gauzy, sequined sport of figure skating. At the Pyeongchang Olympics, the strap on Gabriella Papadakis's dress broke, exposing her breast. She and French partner Guillaume Cizeron won ice dance silver behind Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

Getting stuck, Gilles said, was a first for her.

"We've decided you can throw really anything at us after that," said Gilles, a 28-year-old from Toronto.

(Picture Credits: Pixabay)