Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) won their first Skate Canada International title Saturday in Vancouver, Canada. © ISU
Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps smashed their personal best scores en route to a runaway win in the Pairs event at Skate Canada International on Saturday, finishing more than 25 points ahead of their closest rival.
Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary moved up from fourth to earn the silver medal — the first ISU Grand Prix medal for a Hungarian Pair team in their first ISU Grand Prix event. Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise of Italy picked up the bronze in their ISU Grand Prix debut as a team.
Overnight leaders Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps skated last and they were on fire during their program to “Interview with the Vampire”. The 2023 ISU Four Continents bronze medalists hit a triple twist, triple toe-single Axel-double Axel and triple Salchow, as well as two more triple throws. Add in some difficult lifts, and the Canadian champions scored 142.39 points, improving their previous personal best by more than 10 points.
Their combined total of 214.64 points secured the second ISU Grand Prix gold medal of their career.
Stellato-Dudek was "very happy" with the performance which, she said with a laugh, “is a rarity for me.”
“It's still early in the season, but we've been waiting for a performance like this for years. So we've been training up for it. We were just sick of it last year, never skating even close to a clean long program. We worked really hard to be able to put this out today, and it feels really good. It was a long time coming.”
Deschamps was happy, too, but noted it’s early.
“It's still the beginning of the season. We have so much work still ahead of us, but all the work we have done so far is paying off.”
Performing to “My Perception of Love” and “Iron 2021”, Pavlova/Sviatchenko delivered another clean performance that included a triple twist and a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel, as well as a throw triple flip and loop. The Hungarian pair set a season best with 125.56 points, which added up to 187.78 points overall.
Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) finished second in the Free Skating and second overall at Skate Canada International in Vancouver, Canada. © ISU
Pavlova was excited to bring a medal back to Hungary.
“We're really happy with our performance and we're going to improve every time and we have a lot of things to work on. Our federation is happy for us. We're giving good results for our country and we will continue to do that.”
While Beccari/Guarise produced excellent lifts and strong triple throws in their program to “Cats”, they struggled with the solo jumps: he fell on a triple toe, while she doubled the Salchow. The Italians were ranked fourth in the Free Skating with 115.59 points and slipped to third from second with 181.42 points total.
Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise (ITA) were second in the Short Program but dropped to third overall at Skate Canada International in Vancouver, Canada. © ISU
Beccari had mixed emotions afterwards.
“I'm very happy because this is my first important medal, but we are very disappointed for the mistakes that we made in the jumps. Because I didn't expect the fall of Matteo in the toe, I popped the Salchow.”
Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore (AUS) placed third in the Free Skating but dropped to fourth from third overall with 179.61 points. Kelly Ann Laurin/Loucas Ethier (CAN) moved up from seventh to fifth at 168.12 points.
Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore (AUS) placed fourth at Skate Canada International in Vancouver, Canada. © ISU
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps will take 15 points with them to their second Grand Prix event, the Cup of China. Pavlova/Sviatchenko will take 13 points to their second event, the Grand Prix Espoo in Finland. Beccari/Guarise have 11 points, but have not yet been assigned to a second Grand Prix event.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series consists of six events: Skate America, Skate Canada International, Grand Prix de France, Cup of China, the Grand Prix Espoo (FIN) and NHK Trophy (JPN). Skaters collect points to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023/24 in Beijing (CHN).
The General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series is available here on the ISU website. The individual announcements are published on the ISU Event section under each dedicated Grand Prix event (filter with the relevant Event Series).
For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.
All Media Accreditation details and deadlines for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series can be found here.
Where to Watch
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events will be live streamed on the official ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating YouTube Channel in most countries. Find out Where to watch the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating competitions.
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ISU Grand Prix Schedule
The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events are available below:
20 - 22 Oct, 2023 Skate America, Allen, Texas (USA)
27 – 29 Oct, 2023 Skate Canada International, Vancouver (CAN)
3 - 5 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix de France, Angers (FRA)
10 - 12 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Cup of China, Chongqing (CHN)
17 - 19 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Espoo, Espoo (FIN)
24 - 26 Nov, 2023 NHK Trophy, Osaka (JPN)
7 - 10 Dec, 2023 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Beijing (CHN)
About ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series started in 1995 (previously known as the ISU Champions Series) and consists of six invitational international senior events and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. The top six of the past World Championships are seeded. Competitors collect points in their events towards the qualification for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Only the top six Skaters / Couples in each discipline qualify for the Final.
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