Pairs end with disappointing, but encouraging result for two Canadian finalists

Trennt Michaud and Lia Pereira could not re-create their magic from the short program and fell out of medal contention on the final day of pairs figure skating.

Coming off a magical performance in the short program that saw the Canadians sitting in third place, the duo had only the 10th best score in the free skate (125.06) to finish in eighth place overall with a total of 199.6 points.

It was a bittersweet way to cap off their Olympic debut.

“There was obviously a couple of things that didn’t go the way that we had planned,” said Michaud. “But we felt really good in practice, going into the warm up, and even at the beginning of the program.”

“Skating in the last group of the Olympics for the first time it was pretty cool.”

Having participated in the team skate last week, Michaud and Pereira were hopeful to improve on a routine they had already performed during these Olympics.

However a few minor mistakes ended up proving costly.

Pereira had a slight fall on the landing of the throw triple loop, and Michaud had a slip of his own after falling on his triple salchow.

Moments later during the aptly named backward outside death spiral, Pereira lost hold of Michaud which cost the pair a few more points.

“I noticed in the warm up that my one edge felt a little bit funky,” Pereira explained when asked about the slip. “I felt like we really fought through the whole program in skating, and I kind of felt it slipping every so often, and so I really tried to just brace for impact.”

The pair finished with a technical score of 62.83, which put them 20 points behind the eventual champions, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan. The pair were the defending World champions. The defending Olympic champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, finished fifth, a testament to the depth and quality of the field.

“We’ve had four performances, four very good performances, obviously, and lots to take out of that and we’re super proud of both of us,” Michaud said. “We’re looking forward to Worlds to put ourselves back into that conversation in that last group and then to keep ourselves in it in the long program as well.”

The three mistakes were costly, but the pair skated very cleanly otherwise, and had a lot to be proud of in their Olympic debut.

“Trennt and I are always so hungry and it’s so easy for us to just focus on the things that didn’t go well, but I’m really hoping that we can sit with everything from this experience and just take it all in,” said Pereira.

Meanwhile, the 2024 World pairs champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps improved on their standing to cap off the Olympic Games with the ninth-best score in the free skate.

The pair headed into the day in 14th place largely because of an unfortunate slip from Stellato-Dudek during the short program. They were able to move up three spots, finishing 11th.

The pair were delayed in arriving to Italy after Stellato-Dudek suffered an injury while training days prior to the Games. It put their first Olympic appearance in jeopardy.

“I joke with Maxim that he literally and figuratively always carries me through when I’m having a hard time, and he did not disappoint tonight,” said Stellato-Dudek.

Stellato-Dudek, now 42, came out of a 16-year retirement from figure skating to became the oldest woman to compete in an Olympic figure skating event since St. Moritz 1928. 

“I still think yesterday – the fall that happened on the lift – we would have been probably in the final warm up group or at least very close to it, so the potential was still there, but there was nothing I can do. It was an accident. Stuff like that happens in life all of the time, and I’m not a young one, so I’m aware of that.”

Despite all the setbacks the pair were finalists in their Olympic debut, and they are not ruling out anything in terms of what’s possible for them next.

“I think the only limits you have are the ones that you set on yourself, even though everybody loves to try to put limits on me because I’m 42,” Stellato-Dudek said. “I don’t believe in any of those. Only I can put limits on myself, so I might see you all again in four years.”