Finlandia Trophy 2024: Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps breeze to comfortable pairs short program lead
The world champions looked near to top form in Helsinki, opening up an advantage of over eight points to Italians Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini.
Figure Skating
World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps looked at ease in their Beyoncé-inspired Crazy in Love short program at the 2024 Finlandia Trophy, the fifth stop on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, on Friday (15 November).
The Canadian pair were far and away the strongest team of the eight on the ice at the Helsinki Ice Hall on the night, receiving level fours from the technical panel and positive grades of execution (GOE) from the judges on all their elements.
So much so that Stellato-Dudek, who is eyeing what would be a remarkable Olympic debut in 2026 when she would be just shy of 43 years old, remarked afterwards: "This year, we've put out pretty decent short [programs], but this is by far our best one."
But the 75.89 they received – just under two points below their career-best score obtained at the World Championships this past March – came with a warning for their rivals from Stellato-Dudek.
"There's still a little hiccups here and there. There's still things we can make a little bit better. But overall, I'm pretty pleased."
The Canadians opened with a level-four triple twist lift, the element for which they received their highest grade of execution score. Further high GOEs were assessed for the pair's level four Group 4 lift, throw triple loop, and death spiral.
Their score was improvement of more than two and a half points from their short program at their first Grand Prix this season at Skate Canada International.
"We practised what was harder [for us] at Skate Canada, we put a lot of work on it," Deschamps explained of the duo's preparation for Finlandia. But the bulk of the work they've done in the intervening three weeks won't be seen until Sunday's free skate.
"We've made some changes to the free. We've changed the order of elements, we've changed our choreo sequence… it should look pretty different and we hope to be able to show a good version of it," Stellato-Dudek said.
Italy's Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini sit second after the short program on 67.43 points, more than eight points adrift, while Hungary's Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko are third on 61.29.
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Finlandia Trophy 2024 pairs short program results
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps (CAN) 75.89
- Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) 67.43
- Maria Pavlova / Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) 61.29
- Kelly Ann Laurin / Loucas Ethier (CAN) 60.45
- Emily Chan / Spencer Akira Howe (USA) 58.93
- Milania Vaananen / Filippo Clerici (FIN) 54.33
- Naomi Williams / Lachlan Lewer (USA) 52.30
- Nagaoka Yuna / Moriguchi Sumitada (JPN) 51.75