Winter Olympics: Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek 'super proud' to represent 'underestimated' women with stunning return in pairs figure skating
By Leon Imber
Published 16/02/2026 at 23:30 GMT
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Deanna Stellato-Dudek said she hoped by making her Olympic debut at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics that she could inspire women who are "underestimated." Owing to injury, the 42-year-old was not certain she could compete until last week and she had a fall in their short program before contributing to a fine free skate on Monday evening. Watch Milano Cortina on discovery+.
Stellato-Dudek 'super proud to represent women in their forties'
Video credit: TNT Sports
While Deanna Stellato-Dudek did not have a medal to celebrate after the pairs figure skating on Monday, the Canadian star was "super proud to represent women in their forties" and "show that we can still take up space in the world."
Stellato-Dudek, 42, made her Olympic debut for Canada at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to cap off a spectacular storyline - having retired for 16 years from 2000 to 2016.
And she did so despite not knowing just days before whether she would be able to compete.
An injury in practice dashed Stellato-Dudek's hopes of competing in the team event, and she was eventually permitted to travel from Montreal to Milan to partner Maxime Deschamps for the pairs event.
Stellato-Dudek had a heartbreaking fall in Sunday's short program event, sinking them to a 14th highest score of 66.04. But they recovered with a stronger free skate, which saw them rise to 11th overall.
After coming through so many setbacks, Stellato-Dudek hoped she proved to be inspiring for "underestimated" women.
"It definitely takes a lot of courage but as an athlete you’re used to that," she told TNT Sports. "Because there’s only you out there in that arena daring to be great.
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Gasps as Stellato-Dudek suffers unexpected fall during pair skating
Video credit: TNT Sports
"Everyone else who’s out there judging you has never been in your shoes, and typically never accomplished what you have.
"So the only people I would listen to are people who have accomplished the same or more than what I have, which is an even lower percentage of the population than people who make it to the Olympics.
"I’m just super proud to represent for all women, especially women in their forties, who are always underestimated.
"And I just want to show we can still take up space in the world, do new things, be leaders. I hope other women can take that gift from what I was able to do today."
Stellato-Dudek said that while she and Deschamps would have wished for better preparation, it did not detract from the experience of representing their country at the highest level.
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"A week ago we were not coming here, so we’re pretty grateful to be part of the Olympic team," she added.
"We know how that feels, when you’re less than 1% of the human population, that’s pretty special. I would say we’re really happy but, of course, would have liked to have those last two weeks of training back.
"But that being said, we didn’t know we were coming here until a few days ago, until I was medically clear, so we’re very happy."
And Stellato-Dudek explained why she had extra gratitude towards her skating partner following her race for fitness.
"I’m very grateful to all the medical doctors who saw me. I’m also grateful to our coaches but I’m really grateful to Maxime.
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Miura sees the funny side as Kihara overcome with emotion
Video credit: TNT Sports
"Skating with a partner, it’s so hard to train without your partner and in such deep insecurity of not knowing what your future is going to hold after working towards this one dream for so long. As he normally does, he carried me through today - literally and figuratively."
Ryuichi Kihara and Riku Miura won the pairs event with a sensational season best of 158.13 in Monday's free skate, recovering after posting the fifth-highest score in the short program.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia took silver with two consistent skates, while Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won bronze.
Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.
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