With gold medals draped around their necks, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxine Descamps maintained their momentum throughout the winter Olympic figure skating off-season. Canada's pairs team jumped to the top at the world championships in Montreal where Stellato-Dudek became the oldest woman to win a world title last March.
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Yet, despite the rich history of figure skating at the Winter Olympics, the 41-year-old is laser-focused on securing Olympic gold. There was no rest, no time to reflect Stellato-Dudek remarked about her off-season as world champion. It's just back to work, to the big goal of the winter Olympic in February 2026.
Despite representing Canada at the worlds, Stellato-Dudek, who was born and raised in the US, cannot compete at the Olympics without Canadian citizenship - something that she is still looking but is still optimistic about consolidating before the Winter Olympic - Milano Cortina 2026 games.
Stellato-Dudek has completed the necessary paperwork, and a petition on Change.org has collected almost 10,000 signatures. There is also precedent for winter Olympic figure skaters to receive Canadian citizenship before the Games, including Kaitlyn Weaver, Piper Gilles and Lisbon Ilyushechkina.
Covid threw a lot into everyone's plans and slowed everything down for years Stellato-Dudek said. But I'm very confident that I'll achieve it before the Winter Olympics when I need to have it. The pair, who joined forces in 2019, have shared that Olympic goal since their partnership began.
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Stellato-Dudek, a former junior silver medalist from Chicago, retired at age 17 with a hip injury and returned to the sport 16 years later. He moved to Montreal and joined Descamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion as the 32-year-old's ninth partner. You can Read Olympic Figure Skating Stars to Watch at the Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026
Skate Canada's main event manager Mike Slipshod used to encourage Stellato-Dudek with the words: You're not defending something, so you're pushing it. Worlds later he said Maybe I'm defending now Slipshod said. Because I have that philosophy so much.
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But Descamps insists going from hunters to hunted hasn't changed anything in the pair's approach to competing on the world stage. We're no different; what we accomplished last spring is behind us, and it's something we'll always have he said. But now our goal is to fight.
Stellato-Dudek and Descamps kick off their new program at the Nebelhorn Trophy on Thursday through Saturday in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Their short program features a remix of Beyoncé's Crazy in Love while the free program includes four tracks: Siren by Andrea Krux, Lux by Ryan Tubers, and two compositions by David Fleming, Hans Zimmer, and Jacob Shia.
Guided by coaches Josei Picard and Julie Marquette, Stellato-Dudek said their goal was to be as fresh and original as possible within the necessary elements. They also made changes, adding translations, introducing new topics and changing their lists to make it more interesting.
It's really just going to come out this year a better version of us than last year Stellato-Dudek said.
If Olympic gold is the ultimate goal, Slipshod believes their experience in defending their world title will make them successful.
It puts more pressure on yourself, your expectations are higher, and you don't want to get beat up she said. But you know what? Your kind of have to get past that. And it's good that they're going to get past this year after the winter Olympic versus the year after the winter Olympic because the spotlight is much brighter.
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Stellato-Dudek and Descamps' pair of golds proved Montreal was a top world champion, Slipshod said. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier also earned ice dance money, while Marjorie Louie and Zachary Langhe finished fifth, putting the team in good stead for the winter Olympic after a year and a half out.
But in singles, Canada needs to do better to stay competitive in Milan.
Madeline Schisms, 21, of Oakville, Ont., placed a career-low 18th in the women's race.On the men's side, Wesley Chiu of Vancouver finished 17th and Roman Sadoski of Vaughan, Ont., finished 19th. Barring a top-10 finish, the Canadian men and women each have one spot in the season at this time.We are optimistic that we can add an additional spot in the men's and women's competition this year at worlds Slipshod said. But now the fields are very deep. We expect someone to have that season and world championship performance to give us the best shot in the top 10.
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Schisms, also a Nebelhorn Trophy contender, has previously cracked the top 10, finishing 12th in 2022 and 13th in 2021 and 2023.After a disappointing season, Schisms said he was very organized, very methodical in the off-season, with a focus on improving consistency.
I came in knowing exactly what I do every day, which means I now have the reps to feel confident coming into the fall he said. Schisms performed a Lion King program on the Stars On Ice tour, a big fan of Stellato-Dudek's encouragement, and took it as his short program this season.
He was like, you should totally do it.' So it was an easy choice for me, Schisms said. It's just a really fun program, and I think it's a great job of choreography and maturity.
Kithira's ankle is barely healing. Four-time Grand Prix medalist Rika Kithira announced Wednesday that she will miss the figure skating season due to an improperly healed stress fracture in her right ankle.
Kithira stated that recent MRI results indicated the ankle was healing, but it hadn't yet reached a stage where she could skate with full strength and confidence. So with just over a year to go until the Winter Olympic - Milano Cortina 2026 Kithira consulted with longtime coach Brian Ores and decided to focus on recovery and training instead of trying to compete.
I will continue to practice, train, get treatment and not put too much strain on my injury. I will work hard every day to improve my skills and recover well, Kithira said. The winter Olympic figure skating season kicked off in earnest last weekend with the Lombardi a Trophy in Italy.
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World champion Ilia Melanin of the United States continued his winter Olympic push by winning the men's competition, defeating Japanese opponents Yuma Koriyama and Shun Sato. Amber Glenn and Sarah Eberhard went a somewhat impressive 1-2 for the U.S. in the women's competition, while American ice dancers Annabelle Mozgov and Jeffrey Chen finished second.
The Nebelhorn Trophy will take place this weekend in Germany, but the first major international competition is set to begin at Skate America on October 18 in Allen, Texas. It launches a six-event Grand Prix series, ending with the Grand Prix Finals on December 5 in France.
The 22-year-old Kithira, who will compete in the 2019 Grand Prix Final while setting a world record in the women's short program at the time, will have some ground If she aims to make the Winter Olympic team, three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto is a top favorite for gold, joined by fellow medal contenders Mona Chiba and Mao Shimada.
I'm going to work hard every day and look forward to the day when I can safely skate in front of everyone, safe and secure Kithira said. Although I won't be competing this season, I'm grateful for the support and encouragement I've received so far, and I'm still receiving it. I hope you'll kindly support me.
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