MILTON - Lia Pereira had long-since put aside her pairs skating days and had no plans to revisit them until an organic and game-changing opportunity came calling.
Connected through their coaches, the 21-year-old Miltonian and Belleville’s Trennt Michaud – having just parted ways with his retiring partner – were thrown together for a tryout with little pressure and modest expectations.
At least as far as the Milton Skating Club veteran was concerned.
“I wasn’t sure why they were asking me since I hadn’t skated pairs in six years, but I thought ‘OK, let’s try it’,” recalled Pereira of the initial on-ice union three years ago. “It was going well and we just kept saying see you tomorrow. The joke for the first two years was that they never officially asked me if I wanted to skate with Trennt. We just gelled right away and just kept coming back.”
With a slew of impressive performances under their belt – including February’s bronze medal showing at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea – Pereira and Michaud now find themselves firmly entrenched in the 2026 Olympic conversation.
That is, after helping Canada secure a second spot in pairs for next year’s Milano Cortina Games with an 11th-place finish at the recent World Championships in Boston.
While their performance came with a couple of major errors – name falls on a short program throw and on double jumps in the free skate – Pereira’s momentary disappointment soon gave way to big-picture optimism.
And for good reason.
Contracting a nasty virus en route to Seoul, she wasn’t sure she’d even be competing until right before worlds. Meanwhile, Michaud had a distraction of his own – with his luggage lost in transit.
Needless to say, it was an adversity-laden lead up to a crucial career moment. But the pair refused to come unglued.
“I think we’re good at separating what we can control and what we can’t,” said Pereira, a business student at the University of Guelph, who had her share of singles skating success before joining with Michaud.
With the local skater feeling better just in time, the pair persevered through their mistakes – relying on the enhanced performance side of their routines – to secure Canada’s second spot for the Olympics.
They finished six spots behind top Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps – last year’s world champions.
“That was a testament to our training and our partnership,” said Pereira, who opted for the ice after showing great promise in both figure skating and gymnastics as a pre-teen. “It just showed we were really prepared because whatever was thrown our way we were still able to put out two really good skates.”
Coached by Alison Purkiss and Nancy Lemaire, Pereira and Michaud won’t have much of a post-season rest this year – as they head out later this month for a 10-show cross-country swing with Stars on Ice.
The tour includes stops in Toronto, St. Catharines and London.
The shows – noted Pereira – will offer a further opportunity to boost their cohesion and showmanship, albeit without the usual pressure of competition.
From there, they’ll begin putting the performance pieces in place for a run at representing their country on the ultimate stage.
“Just to say we’re that close (to Olympics), that we’re within a year and earned (Canada) the spot, it’s quite exciting and motivating,” said Pereira.
