Canadians Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps finish 6th in Grand Prix Final pairs
Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, the reigning world champions, faced a challenging competition at the Grand Prix Final on Friday, finishing in sixth place after a shaky free skate. The dynamic duo, who are also two-time Grand Prix medallists, posted a total of 194.36 points following a fall during their program. With this result, they were unable to match their bronze-medal performance from the 2023 Final.
The top honors at the event were claimed by Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who won the title with a score of 225.21 points. Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii secured silver with 223.28 points, while Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took home bronze, earning 221.25 points.
Reflecting on their performance, Deschamps expressed, “We don’t know what happened; we felt ready and everything. We’re going to take a week off to recover. We’ve competed in four events in nine weeks while also dealing with illness. We just need to rest and start fresh to tackle the rest of the season.” Their focus on recovery is essential as they head into an intensive schedule.
The Grand Prix Final showcases the elite of figure skating, featuring the top six entries across all disciplines. Following their rhythm dance event, Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are set to skate their free dance on Saturday after earning third place. Additionally, in junior ice dance, Canadians Layla Veillon and Alexander Brandys are in sixth position ahead of Saturday’s competition, led by an impressive showing from Americans Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin.
Veillon mentioned, “It’s great to be here; we’re very proud of ourselves. We worked hard to qualify. Our goal was to deliver two good programs, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, and you have to find a way to bounce back. We’re going to look ahead, focus on the future, and not dwell on the past.”
In the junior pairs segment, Winnipeg’s Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov are keeping the Canadian hopes alive, currently ranked third leading into Saturday’s free skate.
