Deanno Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) won their first World Pairs title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal on Thursday © ISU
Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) struck gold and won the first World Pairs title for Canada in eight years Thursday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Montreal (CAN).
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps (CAN) crowned World Champions
Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps skated to gold in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at the Bell Centre, winning the first title for their country in eight years.
Defending World Champions Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara claimed the silver medal and the new team of Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin of Germany took bronze in their first season as a team.
Overnight leaders Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps started their passionate Vampire program with a triple twist. The triple toe-single Axel-double Axel was shaky, but the team recovered to hit a side by side triple Salchow, throw triple Salchow and loop, as well as difficult lifts. The 2024 Four Continents Champions collected a level four for the lifts and a level three for their trademark forward outside death spiral. The Canadian Champions set a new personal best score with 144.08 points. They were ranked second in the Free Skating, but won clearly overall with 221.56 points.
“At the end of our program I felt nothing but pride,” Deschamps said. “Deanna was sick, our training session was difficult today, but we kept at it and pulled through. She is a warrior. The only three words I had for her at the end of the performance was: We did it! It was great to be able to have a winning performance in front of family and friends at the Bell Centre. I am speechless. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. It’s an incredible moment I lived tonight with Deanna.”
Stellato-Dudek was still feeling shaky before they skated.
“I felt sick and not myself. I was not certain how I would get through it and our warm-up was terrible. I want to thank my coaches and my partner, because they told me that if I was going to do this than I was going to go out there and give it everything I have. We trained very hard for this and this is how we were able to get through that program and accomplish everything from our training.”
Stellato-Dudek, 40, is now the oldest woman to win a World title in Figure Skating in any discipline.
“(This record) is not something that I ever set out to do when I came back to skating, but I knew that if I were to accomplish my dreams it would inevitably occur, because I'm the oldest everywhere. But it's something I carry with pride, and I'm very proud of it. I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer. I hope it encourages people to not stop before they reach their potential and I hope it transcends into other areas, not just in sports, but also in other areas of life, like work and professional careers.”
Miura/Kihara delivered a strong performance, as well. The 2023 World Champions returned to a previous program, “Woman” by Shawn Philipps, and produced a triple twist, level-four lifts, and throw triple Lutz and loop. They also had a side by side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel, only the toe was slightly underrotated. The 2024 ISU Four Continents silver medalists won the Free Skating with a season’s best score of 144.35 points, but remained second overall with 217.88 points.
Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) won the Pairs Free Skating but finished second overall at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday © ISU
Kihara was unwell after the Free Skating and the team was unable to attend the medal ceremony or the press conference. Their coach, Bruno Marcotte, gave a statement.
“Ryuichi and Riku are extremely proud of the performance. Ryuichi was coughing and went into hyperventilation with low blood sugar. He was so dizzy and couldn’t keep his balance. The doctors felt it was a better idea to put him on a stretcher. They gave him lots of fluids and he is feeling better now.”
Performing to “The Path of Silence” and “The Power of Mind”, Hase/Volodin had a strong start with a triple twist and triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Then came the only glitch: Hase fell on the side by side triple Salchow.
Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (GER) moved up from fourth to take Pairs bronze at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday © ISU
The skaters rallied to complete a throw triple loop and Salchow as well as difficult lifts. The ISU Grand Prix Final Champions posted a personal best with 138.30 points and moved up to third from fourth place with 210.40 points.
“I am still a bit speechless that this happened today. It is the biggest dream come true to get a medal at our first World Championship,” Hase said. “This gives us motivation as a pair to work hard and get better. It was a great start, a great first season and we achieved more than we could dream of.”
Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) moved up to fourth from sixth with another excellent performance (204.60 points). Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel (GER) moved to fifth from seventh (198.23 points), while 2023 World bronze medalists Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (ITA) slipped to sixth from third after some shaky elements (197.34 points).
Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (ITA) slipped to sixth overall from third after the Pairs Free Skating in Montreal on Thursday © ISU
Schedule of the event
The schedule of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships is as follows:
Wednesday, March 20: Pairs & Women's Short Programs
Thursday, March 21: Men's Short Program, Pairs Free Skating
Friday, March 22: Rhythm Dance & Women's Free Skating
Saturday, March 23: Free Dance & Men's Free Skating
Sunday, March 24: Exhibition Gala
For full entries and results, please see the ISU event page and the official website. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldFigure and #FigureSkating.
Where to watch the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2024:
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news here.
Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.
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