World Figure Skating Championships: Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps capture pairs title, making her oldest female world champ ever
The Canadian duo delivered a chilling performance before its home crowd in Montreal to win the biggest title of their careers. 2023 champions Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi claimed silver.
Figure Skating
Twenty-four years after she was a world junior silver medallist, Deanna Stellato-Dudek has a senior world medal.
And it's gold.
The 40-year-old Stellato-Dudek became the oldest woman to win a figure skating world title in any discipline on Thursday (21 March) at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, as she and partner Maxime Deschamps soared to a win in pairs, scoring a career-best 221.56 (144.08 in the free skate).
"Oh my God!" came the cry from Stellato-Dudek as the Canadian team struck their final pose inside Bell Centre, a thundering home crowd greeting them with a minute-long standing ovation that shook the building.
Their first world title denied 2023 world champs Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi of Japan a second straight. But the duo claimed a triumphant silver after a season in which they missed months due to Kihara's back injury.
They scored a 217.88 (144.35). Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took the bronze at 210.40 (138.30).
"'Forty is the new twenty,' that's what I'd like to say," Stellato-Dudek laughed. "It's not something that I ever set out to do, but I knew that if I were to accomplish my dreams [in skating] it would happen because I'm the oldest everywhere. It's a thing I carry with pride; I'm very proud of it. I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer."
After injuries cut her junior career short, Stellato-Dudek took a 16-year break from the sport before returning in 2016. She switched from singles to pairs, and in 2019 moved to Canada from the U.S. to pair up with Deschamps.
Maxime grew up in Montreal and attended NHL hockey games at Bell Centre as a young boy.
They both thanked the crowd after their win, Deanna adding: "It's a dream come true," as she fought back tears. She told Canadian broadcaster CBC: "We felt more than love from the audience tonight."
Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary (204.60) and Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel of Germany (198.23) rounded out the top five.
Pairs: Japanese win free skate, but night belongs to Canadians
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps led by 3.95 points after the short program, and they'd come to need that edge on Thursday night.
A stirring skate by Hase/Volodin put them into first place with the top three teams to go, but Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, bronze medallists a year ago, faltered in their free, making several costly errors early and never fully recovering.
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps weathered any of that negative energy, skating out to a roaring crowd and then Deanna fighting to keep upright on the backend of their triple toe-loop-Axel-double Axel combination.
They settled in from there, landing side-by-side triple Salchows before earning positives GOEs (Grades of Execution) on a lift and pair of spins before they hit their first of two throw jumps.
Their second throw was a triple loop, Stellato-Dudek fighting again for the landing. The standing ovation started 10 seconds before they finished their acclaimed Interview with the Vampire free.
"She's brought me to another level," Deschamps said after their skate about Deanna. "It's like we're living a dream to do it at home. It's unbelievable. She's a warrior."
Miura/Kihara would deliver thereafter, an early quarter-under rotation call on their double Axel, not deterring them. Miura later doubled a side-by-side Salchow, but they were strong element to element.
The Japanese would not attend the medal ceremony, with Kihara needing medical attention after he suffered from difficulty breathing.
"They're extremely proud of their event, what they did," said coach Bruno Marcotte, who said Kihara was receiving the proper attention he needed.
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps are the first Canadian duo to win a pairs world title since Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford claimed back-to-back golds in 2015-16.
"We'll take some time to relish in this win," Stellato-Dudek later told CBC.
Deschamps soaked in the fact that it was him, years after being a kid in the stands at hockey games, who was being feted centre ice.
"Now I'm the one getting the standing ovation, instead of the Montreal Canadiens," he said, beaming. "It's incredible; it's something that I'll remember for the rest of my life."