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Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will get their chance at Olympic glory after all.
The pair will leave Montreal on Wednesday and arrive in Milan on Thursday after Stellato-Dudek was cleared to compete, Skate Canada announced Tuesday.
It will give the 2024 world champions two days of practice before the short program begins on Sunday.
“Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps will compete in the pairs figure skating event beginning February 15,” Skate Canada said in a statement. Stellato-Dudek hit her head on the ice during a training session in Quebec on January 30. Since then, her condition has been closely monitored by the medical teams of Skate Canada and Team Canada, and she has undergone the required medical examinations.”
The decision to allow Stellato-Dudek to compete was made under the supervision of medical professionals.
At 42, Stellato-Dudek will become the oldest woman to compete in an Olympic figure skating event in almost a century.
“I want to thank everyone for their interest and support. I’ve been working closely with the medical team and I feel ready and I’m really looking forward to competing,” said Stellato-Dudekin. “My priority now is to skate to the best of my ability. Maxime and I respectfully ask the press representatives to give us the space to focus on the competition.”
Hip injury forced retirement at 17
Originally from the Chicago area, Stellato-Dudek was a world junior silver medallist in 2000 and was projected to be the next American women’s singles star when a chronic hip injury forced her into retirement at 17.
She returned to the ice in 2016 after a team-building exercise at a work retreat sparked her unlikely comeback, then moved to Canada in 2019 to team up with Deschamps outside the Montreal area.
Deschamps, a 34-year-old from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., had cycled through eight partners and was close to hanging up his skates before Stellato-Dudek came calling.
Together, they were crowned world figure skating champions on Montreal ice in 2024, as Stellato-Dudek became the oldest woman in any discipline to capture a world title.
Stellato-Dudek gained Canadian citizenship in December that year, making her eligible to represent the country at the Games.
The pair struggled to stick the landing in the past two seasons despite remaining among the world’s elite, finishing a disappointing fifth at the world championships last year to end an inconsistent title-defence campaign.
The three-time national winners also dropped to a surprising second-place finish at the Canadian championships in January, as Stellato-Dudek battled through a stomach bug, but still secured an Olympic berth before the training accident put her long-sought dream in jeopardy.
Stellato-Dudek is intent on having an Olympic moment. She and Deschamps plan to perform the first assisted backflip in Olympic competition during their “Carmina Burana” short program.
She’s also set to skate in costumes designed by luxury fashion house Oscar de la Renta, wearing a glitter-gold outfit for the short program and a red dress — with a signature flower at the collar — in the free skate.
