Canada’s Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps make Olympic debut; Pereira and Michaud sit in pairs bronze position
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Ten years after returning to figure skating, 42-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek finally made her Olympic debut.
The Canadian pair qualified for the final free programs, even after a devastating fall in the short program where Stellato-Dudek appeared to trip on partner Maxime Deschamps skate coming down from a lift.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps currently sit in 14th in the pairs individual competition, scoring 66.04 points in the short program – about eight points below their season’s best – performing to Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
Germany’s Minvera Fabienne and Nikita Volodin are currently in gold medal position while Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are in second.
After a personal best performance, Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud are currently sitting in the third heading into the free program finals on Monday.
An Olympic debut that almost wasn’t
Stellato-Dudek is the oldest figure skater to compete at an Olympic Games in almost a century.
But her dream of competing at the Olympics came into question after Stellato-Dudek suffered a head injury in practice on Jan. 30, forcing the pair to pull out of the team competition last week.
Stellato-Dudek had what she said was a “remarkable” recovery to a “nightmare” experience, with the pair confirming their participation in Sunday’s individual event on Thursday.
Stellato-Dudek said the pair were both “very nervous,” having arrived at the Olympics later than other teams, but the pair was “really happy” with how the routine was going until the lift, which she said cost them about 10 points.
After recovering from an injury sustained when Deanna Stellato-Dudek hit her head in training, the world champion Canadian pair of Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps struggled to a 14th place finish in the Olympic pairs short program.
“That’s very disappointing for us only because that’s something that we’re so good at and usually where we rack up the points, not lose them. So that was unexpected and unfortunate,” Stellato-Dudek told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux.
“I’m still happy to be here, of course, I’m happy to represent the 40-year-olds.”
Stellato-Dudek, who was born in Chicago, IL., was a 2000 world junior silver medalist but retired due to injury. She returned to skating in 2016 with a dream of making the Olympic Games and paired with Deschamps in 2019.
The pair are currently ranked fifth in the world and are the 2023 world champions.
Pereira, Michaud sit in podium position
After finishing fifth in the team event last week, Pereira and Michaud scored a personal-best score of 74.60 in the short program of the individual pairs event on Sunday.
“After the team event we felt content with our short program, a lot of hurdles that we overcame from past competitions but we still wanted more,” Pereira told Heroux.
“I don’t think we could do much better than that, so it’s really cool to have put that all out today.”
Skating to Say You Love Me by Jessie Ware, Benjamin Ash, Benny Blanco, Ed Sheeran, the pair performed a flawless program bringing tears to the families’ eyes in the crowd.
“It means a lot to have our family and friends here,” Michaud said. “We can’t thank everyone that’s been part of this journey enough.
Canadians Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud scored a personal best 74.60 points to finish in third place in the Olympic pairs short program.
Their score pushed them to the top of the standings, where they remained for several pairs before ultimately finishing in third after the short programs.
Pereira and Michaud have skated together since 2022, and Milano-Cortina is their first Olympic Games. The pair are the 2026 Canadian National Champions, outskating Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps last month.
“This whole process has made me feel like Canada does stand behind all our athletes and it’s really awesome,” Michaud said.
German pair remain gold favourites
The leading German pair of Fabienne Hase and Volodin, who are currently ranked number one in the world, scored a personal best of 80.01 in the short program, skating to El Abrazo by Maxime Rodriguez, to claim the lead.
This is the second Olympic Games for Hase who placed 16th at Beijing 2022 with her former partner Nolon Seegert.
Gold medal favourites coming into the pair’s event, Japan’s Miura and Kihara currently sit in fifth place after scoring 73.11 in their short program to Paint it Black.
The pair, who train in Oakville, Ont., and are coached by Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Meagan Duhamel, had a slight mishap on their lift where Miura slipped, coming down early on Kihara.
Miura and Kihara are the reigning world and Grand Prix Finals Champions and are looking to improve upon their seventh place finish at Beijing 2022 at their second Olympic Games.
In what CBC commentators called “the twilight of their careers” Chinese skaters Wenjing Sui and Cong Han were second to take the ice during pairs qualifiers, scoring 72.66 in the short program and are currently sit in sixth.
Sui almost fell on the first jump of their program but the pair finished the remainder of their program without struggle.
The defending Olympic gold medalists from Beijing 2022 had retired after the Olympic Games and then came back for the 2025/2026 season.
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