The 2023 Skate Canada International was the second event in the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, from October 27–29. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men’s singles, women’s singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters also earned points toward qualifying for the 2023–24 Grand Prix Final.
Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier performed a free dance to music from “Wuthering Heights” to win their first gold of the season with an overall score of 219.01. Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson and Lithuania’s Saulius Ambrulevicius and Allison Reed retained their positions from the rhythm dance to capture silver (209.55) and bronze (192.01) respectively.
Ambrulevičius and Reed are two-time Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalists (2021, 2022), the 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy silver medalists, and two-time Nebelhorn Trophy silver medalists (2022, 2023). They have finished in the top ten at the European Championships twice (2022, 2023), as well as at the World Championships (2022, 2023).
Beginning the season at the 2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Reed/Ambrulevičius won the silver medal at the event for the second consecutive season. Given two assignments on the Grand Prix, they began at the 2023 Skate Canada International, finishing third in both segments, winning the bronze medal, their first on the circuit.
Allison Lynn Reed is 29 years old, an American-born ice dancer who currently competes for Lithuania with Saulius Ambrulevičius. Theirs are the first Grand Prix medals brought home to Lithuania in 12 years. They will perform in Lithuania in a few months, when Kaunas welcomes the European Championship for the first time in history.
Saulius Ambrulevičius, born in Kaunas in 1992, has been competing in ice dance since 2014, and has won multiple medals. Before that he was a single skater, winning the 2007 and 2008 Lithuanian Championships. He and his partner Allison Reed qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics, however she was twice denied Lithuanian citizenship and so they were unable to participate.
