Deanna Stellato-Dudek granted Canadian citizenship, clearing Olympic path for reigning world champion pairs team

Deanna Stellato-Dudek's Olympic dream* became a bit more real on Wednesday (11 December).

The Chicago-area native took her oath of Canadian citizenship in Montreal, where she has lived and trained since 2018. The 40-year-old pairs figure skater is the reigning world champion alongside partner Maxime Deschamps.

"This is just such a huge unknown stress lifted," Stellato-Dudek told reporters after the ceremony. "And now we can do what we do best, which is work really hard to be as ready as possible to make Canada and ourselves proud."

"[It's] just so much stress lifted, so much hard work rewarded," she added. "And now I feel like Max and I, we're free to realise our Olympic dream."

Stellato, a top singles skater a junior, returned to the sport after 16 years away in 2016. She initially competed alongside Nathan Bartholomay for the U.S. before moving to Canada to pair up with Deschamps.

According to IOC rules, "any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor."

Stellato-Dudek's story has wowed crowds worldwide after her nearly two-decade break from the demanding sport. She and Deschamps have slowly climed up the global rankings in pairs, claiming five Grand Prix gold medals since 2022, two Canadian national titles and that aforementioned world title.

The two withdrew from last week's Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, due to an illness for Deschamps. They're next due on competitive ice at the Canadian Championships 14-19 January in Laval, Quebec, just outside of Montreal.

The Olympic qualification process gets underway for figure skating at this year's World Championships in Boston, where skaters will earn quota spots for their country.

• Stellato-Dudek world champ at 40: 'I hope it transcends'
• How it happened: Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps win world title (March 2024)

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at Milano Cortina 2026 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek: This "was always in the back of my mind"

It was an emotional day for Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, with Deanna's mother attending the ceremony and - at one point - breaking down in tears.

"She was not supposed to be here... it was like a surprise," Stellato-Dudek shared of her mother, Ann. "I was getting this on the day she was happened to be here, so it was meant to be."

"She's been on this journey with me since I was five years old. So she's been here the longest and has the most sweat equity put into my career."

Stellato-Dudek said "felt Canadian for a while now," but that the citizenship process weighed on her "more than I can explain." The team felt an added pressure to perform at Canadian nationals and at international events to help their standing.

"It was always in the back of my mind," she said.

Deanna has worked hard to take on the French language, with Canada being a dual-language nation split between French and English. Montreal, her training city, is heavily French being located in Quebec.

"I try to speak when French I whenever I can, but everyone always answers me in English," Stellato-Dudek said, laughing. "So I'm not fooling anybody."

Added Deschamps: "It's a big relief for sure because it was a big hurdle. Now that it is out of the way, we can really concentrate only on training, skating and competing - and make the best of what we can do."