Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps take first skate on Olympic ice after pre-Games injury

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps have finally skated on Olympic ice. 

The 2024 World pairs champions completed their first practice on Friday after a delayed arrival at Milano Cortina 2026. They missed competing in the figure skating team event after Stellato-Dudek sustained an injury in training at home in Montreal just before the start of the Games. 

“The last week and a half has been a living nightmare that I would not wish on anybody,” said Stellato-Dudek, who at 42 will be the oldest woman to compete in an Olympic figure skating event in nearly a century. “I have been told by doctors I’ve made a ’remarkable recovery’, end quote end quote, ‘I’m extremely impressed’, end quote. And I have to say I am extremely thankful to Skate Canada, to the Canadian Olympic Committee, to all the team of doctors that I saw.

“And in addition, I received thousands of messages from people around the world saying that they were lighting a candle for me and praying for me. And I also believe that is what got me here.”

The figure skating community has been deeply invested in Stellato-Dudek’s inspiring journey to become an Olympian long past an age when most athletes in that sport are retired. 

READ: From champions to challengers: Stellato-Dudek & Deschamps set to chase Olympic medal dreams

Once a promising singles skater who reached the podium at the 2000 ISU World Junior Championships before injuries forced her into retirement, she came back to competitive figure skating after 16 years off the ice as she realized she still held the dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. 

She started her career as a pairs skater when she was in her early 30s and teamed up with Deschamps, who went through his own struggles to achieve everything he wanted in the sport, in 2019. 

Fans had waited with bated breath for the news that they would both get their moment in Milan. 

“That’s been difficult, seeing that the dream was slipping under our feet,” Deschamps said of the last week. “But I still believed in Deanna the whole time and I’ve been training super hard during that time. We were still hoping and that was important to keep that.” 

They declined to get into the specifics of the accident and the injury when speaking with the media after their first practice in Milan. 

“It’s been less than 10 days. I myself have not processed what has happened from the moment the accident occurred. The only focus was tunnel vision on how can I get here. So I’m going to need time to perseverate and process what happened before I can speak about it with any eloquence whatsoever,” said Stellato-Dudek, who did confirm that she does not have a concussion. 

One concession they have made in light of the injury is removing the backflip that has been a wow-inducing moment in their short program all season. They felt there was no need to take an unnecessary risk with her health for a non-scoring, non-mandatory element. 

As any first time Olympic competitors would, they’ve been soaking up the atmosphere in Milan.

“Since we arrived here and we saw the Olympic rings we’ve taken a bunch of photographs and I’ve cried before every one, so I look hideous in every picture I’ve taken,” said Stellato-Dudek. “But it’s very emotional to be here. When I set out on this journey in 2016 not one person told me I would make it to the Olympics.

“To know me is to know that I wasn’t going down without a fight.”

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps will compete in the pairs short program on Sunday, along with fellow Canadians Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud. The free skate is on the schedule for Monday.