Ten years after making a comeback to figure skating, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, aged 42, finally competed in her first Winter Olympics. Despite a fall in the short program where Stellato-Dudek stumbled on partner Maxime Deschamps’ skate during a lift, the Canadian pair managed to qualify for the final free programs. Currently positioned 14th in the individual pairs competition, they scored 66.04 points in the short program, slightly below their season’s best, while skating to Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
Leading the pairs standings are Germany’s Minvera Fabienne and Nikita Volodin, followed by Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava in second place. Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, after an impressive performance, are in third place heading into the free program finals on Monday, following a personal best score.
Despite being the oldest figure skater at the Olympics in almost a century, Stellato-Dudek’s journey to the Games faced uncertainty after a head injury in practice on Jan. 30. This forced the pair to withdraw from the team competition. However, after what she described as a remarkable recovery from a nightmare experience, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps confirmed their participation in the individual event.
Expressing nerves due to their delayed arrival at the Olympics, Stellato-Dudek mentioned their satisfaction with the routine until the costly lift incident, which she estimated cost them around 10 points. Stellato-Dudek acknowledged the disappointment but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent older athletes.
Pereira and Michaud, following a fifth-place finish in the team event, achieved a personal-best score of 74.60 in the short program of the individual pairs event. Skating to “Say You Love Me,” the pair delivered a flawless performance that moved them to the top of the standings before ultimately securing third place.
The German pair of Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, ranked number one globally, set a personal best score of 80.01 in the short program to claim the top spot. Meanwhile, the Japanese favorites Miura and Kihara sit in fifth place after a minor mishap in their routine. The Chinese skaters Sui and Han, in the twilight of their careers, are currently sixth after a solid performance in the qualifiers.
