This week, Canadian pairs skaters Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud will kick off their new season at Glacier Falls Summer Classic in Anaheim, CA. It’s only a midsummer club competition; but every competition will be important this season, as the duo aim to earn one of Canada’s two pairs spots for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Pereira, 21, and Michaud, 28, first teamed up in 2022 and had immediate success, placing 6th at their first ISU World Championships in 2023. Since then, they’ve continued to build their partnership with their Olympic dreams in mind.
Last season, the Canadian duo showed off improved artistic range and maturity with a short program to jazz standard “Sing, Sing, Sing” (choreographed by Jean-Luc Baker and Olivia Smart) and a free skate to tango classics “Jalousie Tango” and “Por una Cabeza” (choreographed by Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz). With these programs, and increasingly polished pairs elements, Pereira/Michaud won a Grand Prix medal and mounted a strong challenge to domestic rivals (and 2024 World Champions) Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps at the 2025 Canadian national championships. Pereira/Michaud then won their first-ever major ISU Championships medal, a bronze, at 2025 Four Continents.
Although they placed a lower-than-expected 11th at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Pereira/Michaud were still proud of their season as a whole. When we spoke with them in Boston, the duo talked about their progress this past season, why they enjoy working with the ice dance coaches at I.AM London [Ice Academy of Montreal], their hopes for the Olympic season, and more.
Winning the audience
Q: This past season, you worked with several choreographers: Madison Hubbell and Adrian Diaz from I.AM London, and Jean-Luc Baker and Oliva Smart. What were your goals?
Pereira: One of the things that bonded us as a team, from the start, was our love for the sport itself. Sometimes you can be so involved that you’re not overly aware of what’s happening outside of [your] discipline. But we are huge skating fans and love watching it, especially ice dance. We gravitate toward programs that make you feel emotions, when you’re sitting on the edge of your seat. We wanted to have that effect on others, and bring that aspect of ice dance into pairs skating. Pairs is super-athletic, and the elements are very cool. But there’s something special about having that performance aspect to draw people in.
Michaud: When I think of the pairs teams that really captivated … Obviously, they were winning things. But also, they were winning the audience. Which is part of the reason why I wanted to be a pairs skater. When you think about Wenjing Sui and Cong Han [2020 Olympic pairs champions] … just brilliant programs, brilliant skating. Even if they had stumbles, you just wanted to keep watching them skate. Ice dance has a lot of that. So we’re very lucky that I.AM London is close to us and has helped us for the past two years. We want to take that level, from them, into our skating, and keep pushing that. I think in the second half of this season, we took another big jump in that [direction].
Q: With the current state of pairs skating–all the program requirements and rules–how difficult is it to bring in that artistry and really capture an audience?
Michaud: It’s tough. Especially in the short [program], we have certain elements that we have to do, which take so much time. And actually, it’s the same with the long [program]. That’s one thing I think we’re getting better at, in working with I.AM London. They make all their elements look like choreography, and blend one into the next. In those little moments when we have a bit more time for choreography, that’s where we’re really trying to capture the audience.
Pereira: Transition-wise, pairs elements take bigger set-ups. Which is usually where the artistry takes a break, or you have that stall of performance [level]. So it’s working on the transitions and being open to different holds and choreographical steps that can maybe separate us and make elements pop out of nowhere, rather than having a long, drawn-out set-up.
Experimenting with new music genres
Q: Your short program last season was to “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which was an interesting choice, because it’s music that ice dance teams often skate to, more than pairs. What was your reaction when that music was presented to you?
Michaud: We wanted to do something on the fun side for the short [program], because our personalities off the ice are pretty bubbly and fun, day to day. We wanted to bring that aspect into the skating; we hadn’t really done something upbeat like that. When we first heard it, we both liked it right away.
Pereira: When we sat down with Jean-Luc [Baker]–actually at 2024 Worlds–he presented the idea. His vision was to bring a bit of the retro side of skating. He thought that we, as people, could portray that. It was a really cool process working with him and this style of music. It is a natural emotion for us to be happy and bubbly. But to try to perform that is much different.
Michaud: It was trying to find a way to keep it sophisticated. You could take that music very easily into a more cheesy [approach]. We were trying to make a more sophisticated version.
Q: Was it hard to pull off a very fast tempo in the short program?
Pereira: With short programs in general–as Trennt was saying–there’s so many elements in such a short amount of time, and they take big set-ups. So we usually find that short programs are quite fast-paced, even if you skate to slower music.
Michaud: It’s a sprint for two minutes and 50 seconds, because there’s not as much time to take a break.
Pereira: At the beginning of the season, we just got excited with the music. Toward the end, we were like, Okay, maybe we should focus on breathing. Just being a bit more present and not upping our breathing to the tempo of the music. Let’s just leave that [the tempo] in our feet.
Q: How did you connect with Jean-Luc Baker for choreography?
Michaud: It was an idea that our coach, Alison Purkiss, brought to the table. I’m really good friends with Jean-Luc, from competing alongside him [and partner Kaitlin Hawayek] for so long. I asked him if he would entertain the idea, and he was all for it.
Pereira: There was a mutual respect. We could appreciate what he brought to the table, but Jean-Luc was also appreciative of us being the first pairs team he choreographed for. So it was a very mutual relationship, which I think helped the process–to be able to collaborate, and for Ali, our coach, to collaborate with Jean-Luc. It made for a super-strong connection.
Q: For your long program, you did tango, which was also a new musical genre for you. Was that a challenge?
Pereira: I love it. I always wanted to skate to a tango.
Michaud: I don’t think it was tough, because we both really liked it. It was just working on it long enough to make it more elevated.
Pereira: It was similar to the short [program], in that it’s such a specific style. People recognize the music, and you have to portray that. You can’t have the expectation of the music and not skate up to that level. Because we’re known as bubbly, fun people, there was almost like–
Michaud: Like a sense we might not be able to do this.
Q: A little bit of typecasting?
Michaud: Yes. A little bit of judgment, like: This isn’t something they normally would do.
Pereira: I think it was not even judgment, just questioning. We were like: ‘Oh, you guys think that we can only do fun? Watch this.’ We took that challenge and ran with it. Being able to work with the I.AM coaches on tango, we were just in awe. Also, whenever we trained there [last season], we were with Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who were doing Carmen. That was a great inspiration, too.
Q: When you think about this coming season being an Olympic year, what’s your vision of how you want your programs to be?
Pereira: I think the moment when the music is done and you’re in that final pose, and the crowd is cheering, and you feel you’ve put everything out there–whether it was good or bad, you left it all on the ice–we just love that feeling, and hope to have that feeling of success every time we compete. And especially, to have that moment at an Olympic Games would be incredible. So when we’re listening to music, we want to hear certain phrasing, or grand feelings that would make people want to stand at the end of the program. Or emotions that we would want to feel. As much as it’s for the audience, we want it to be our moment, as well. So just setting ourselves up to have that, with music.
Working toward “effortless” technique
Q: Turning from music and choreography to technique … Are there specific technical things you want to work on for the Olympic season? Or just polishing your elements?
Michaud: Definitely the polishing. I think we took a huge step in the last three months with the polishing of our lifts and twists and death spirals. Just continuing to push that.
Pereira: We are still learning about us, as a team. When we watch some of the best pairs in the world, they have great technique. But we are still Lia and Trennt; we have to figure out what technique works for us. When we started our partnership, we looked for inspiration from other competitors. Now we are figuring out what we need to do to execute each element well. With the [triple] twist being an example … Last year in the short program [2024 Worlds], we got a level 1 twist. This week, we got two level 4 twists, with positive GOE. Big, big improvement. We were able to find what worked for us.
Michaud: It’s finding our version of effortlessness on the elements–which is a huge thing. Like Lia said, doing it in our own way. That’s what will make it look effortless–when we do it our way.
Pereira: Another key is the trajectory of skill development. In our first Worlds together, I probably had only ever done 50 throw triple loops. So the margin of error on the technique was so small. Part of acquiring a new skill is repetition, and learning what works and what doesn’t. Because we came out of the gate so hot at the beginning, we’ve taken a step back to try to figure out how to hone in the focus and the technique to make it consistent every time. That’s obviously what you see the top teams doing–in every discipline, actually. It’s the narrowing of the tiniest little keyword, focus, whatever it may be. We definitely want more of that this [coming] season: Honing in on what works for us and feels the best.
Q: You mentioned the twist. What made the difference, in terms of making it bigger and better?
Michaud: Honestly, a lot of it was just us and Ali working together, using video, and being a bit more clear about what feels right. Ali being clear with what she’s seeing and how she’s portraying it to us. It was making sure that the take-off is consistent, so that way, Lia is snapping in a consistent spot, and I can catch her in a consistent spot.
Pereira: I think one of our strengths is just awareness and being able to watch a video and make a correction. Having Ali there with the right corrections, and communicating that to us, and us being able to put that into a result, was the biggest difference.
Mixing it up in training
Q: When you first teamed up, you split your training time between Trennt’s rink in Brantford, where Alison Purkiss is, and Lia’s rink in Milton, where her coaches, Nancy Lemaire and Derek Schmidt, work. Are you still doing that?
Michaud: Yes. We’re still pretty 50/50 between Brantford and Milton. Switching it up is very good, so it doesn’t become too repetitive. Routine is good, but you’ve also got to be comfortable being a little uncomfortable sometimes.
Pereira: We live an hour apart, so splitting the driving is helpful. And, as Trennt said, it’s a change of environment and coaches. Our coaches in Milton have great experience teaching the jumps; it’s a very strong singles club. So having a technical eye on that aspect, and then having Alison, who’s obviously a marvelous pairs coach, is great. And having the ice dance eye and perspective at I.AM London. So we keep those relationships strong and keep moving. We like it that way. It keeps it fresh.
Michaud: Sometimes with Nancy and Derek, they still see things from a singles perspective, even though they’ve learned a lot about pairs. They might say: Oh, is that supposed to look like that? We’re like: Well, it’s kind of how it works, but you’re right, maybe we should change it.
Pereira: Their naivete in pairs actually helps us make some things cleaner.
Michaud: Same with the ice dancers. They’ll say: Is that a normal thing? And we’ll say: It is for us. But if you don’t like the way it looks, then we should probably change it.
Lia and Trennt off the ice
Q: What’s going on off the ice for you both? Last time we talked, Trennt, you were into disc golf. Is that still your thing?
Michaud: Oh, yeah. [Grins.] For me, it’s school, disc golf, the Leafs [Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team], and Bilbo, my dog. I go to McMaster University, and I’m studying social science and psychology.
Pereira: I’m at the University of Guelph, doing business courses. We’re both able to go into campus for class, which is really nice. I think we both learn better in person. Skating is our priority and our focus, but it’s nice to be among like-minded, like-aged people, in a different setting, and keep our brains active.
Michaud: I also coach a few nights a week. I coach power skating, and we have some baby pre-novice teams, and our learn-to-skate program.
Q: Lia, what are your hobbies?
Pereira: My number one answer is usually my nails. I did some really fancy nails for Worlds this year. [She showed off a stunning, detailed red/white/blue nail design.] I still live at home with my two younger siblings, so I spend as much time as I can with them and my parents. My brother plays lots of sports, so I’m always there cheering him on, as much as he’s cheering me. And lots of shopping and walking around.
Q: Is there anything you’d like fans to know about you?
Pereira: Just that we appreciate their support. That was actually one of the factors that helped calm us in our first season–trying to build a fan base and bring more fans into skating. We love when everyone cheers really loud for us, and we appreciate all the love that we receive.
Michaud: On a deeper level, I just hope that we can inspire people to do what they love and follow their dreams, no matter what it is. That’s a big thing for us. We’re very positive people, and we try to express that and show people how to take that into their own lives. I have been very lucky to inspire some boys to start skating. We have a lot of boys in our club, for how small of a city it is.
Pereira: Enjoy life, and enjoy the process; we’re huge on that. There’s going to be ups and downs, and I think sport is a really good venue to learn that. Inspiring young kids is so crazy to even comprehend, and it’s super-special. I just got my coaching certification, so I’m going to start coaching in the summer, and I’m really excited for that. I’ve done CanSkate [Canada’s learn-to-skate program] before–the little Pre-Cans, the three- to six-year olds–and I love it so much, even though it can be an emotional roller coaster. Seeing the progressions of kids learning is rewarding.
The future
Q: Next season is the Olympic year. I know 99% of your focus is probably on that. But have you had any thoughts beyond the Olympics?
Michaud: When we first started skating together, it was like: Our plan is 2026, and then we’ll sit down afterward and talk. And we still will do that. But we’re definitely not going to … It won’t be the end.
Pereira: We’re hungry. We’re very hungry.
Michaud: Yes. We’re hungry for more.
Pereira: I think Montreal Worlds [where they finished 8th] was a big eye-opener for me, in that respect. We felt like we had more to give than we had throughout the season. I think we’ll end this competition with the same perspective. Being at the World Championships is a very huge accomplishment, and I think every time we come to Worlds, we get more inspired. So to say that we would only do this one more time … is not a thought that’s in our heads at this moment.
Michaud: It’s a little too much fun wearing the Canadian flag on your back.
Pereira: As much as we may freak out before we step on the ice [in competition], it is what we love to do. So we don’t want to stop any time soon.
Michaud: No.
