Ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will be paying tribute to another Canadian legend, Gord Downie.
The duo said that they'll be skating to the Tragically Hip's "Long Time Running" at this weekend's gala skate, where Olympic figure skaters perform an unjudged routine for their fans. The event will air on Saturday night in Canada, starting at 7:30 p.m. EST.
It's our tribute to one of my heroes.Scott Moir
"When I think about Gord and I think about the Hip and what they've been able to do, it's kind of the soundtrack to being Canadian almost," Moir said. "It's special for us that we get to skate to the Hip, and it's our tribute to one of my heroes and a guy who was so wonderfully weird, and just how he embraced life."
Virtue and Moir debuted the routine last October at an event in Saskatchewan, just weeks after Downie died of brain cancer at age 53.
And yes, video of the routine exists online. Better get your hankies ready.
"We're both huge fans, and Scott just asked if we could somehow choreograph a little tribute and we thought maybe it would only be for that one competition, but it's been lovely to take the ice and to celebrate a Canadian hero, and it means a lot to us," Virtue said.
"The lyrics of 'Long Time Running' also are easy for us to connect with for our career, but we're really looking forward to performing that on Olympic ice.''
The pair have been skating together for more than 20 years and, although they have not yet officially announced it, PyeongChang will likely be their last Olympic Games.
Virtue and Moir are certainly going out in style. They've picked up two gold medals to become the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. They've made Canada and the world fall in love with them and were the subjects of a tearjerker CBC tribute scored to a Jim Cuddy ballad.
The gala will be another chance for Canada to see them in action one last time.
With files from The Canadian Press