Figure skating may be a beautiful sport combining athleticism and artistry but it’s still all about the numbers, a bewildering computation of judging marks.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek was no sooner through the door after a disappointing fifth-place finish in pairs at the world championships last March when she sat down and analyzed the data. Where had she and partner Maxime Deschamps lost points? Where were their strengths?
“The second I got home I made a spreadsheet of what we placed in each element in each program. We were actually first or second in six out of 11 elements in the free. OK, how can we maintain that lead and/or make it larger? On our pairs spin, for instance, we were in a four-way tie for third. I’m not really a ‘four-way tied for third’ kind of gal. How can we make that better?
“It’s been pedal to the metal, full speed ahead ever since because we were not happy.’’
The Canadians — and she is one now, after receiving her citizenship last December — were unable to defend their gold from the previous year. But that citizenship enables Stellato-Dudek to represent Canada at the Milan Olympics, which was always the goal.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek, right, is the oldest skater in any discipline to cop a world championship medal at 42-years-old. She’s been skating with Maxime Deschamps, 33, since 2019.
Lee Jin-man/APAfter crunching the numbers, Stellato-Dudek was struck by a wacky idea. Why not do what has never been done in competition before by a pairs team? A back flip.
“Maxime and I have the opportunity to make history this year. Because of my age, because of his age, because of our combined age. All of the above.’’
She’s 42, the oldest skater in any discipline to cop a medal at worlds. Deschamps is 33. They’ve been together since 2019 when Stellato-Dudek came out of retirement — she’d competed for the U.S. in singles as a teenager before injuries prematurely ended her career.
“I consider my age to be a massive strength.’’
To put that in context, the next oldest skater in the international pairs field is 18 years younger.
But about that back flip …
The trick is not technically a defined technical element, like a spin or a jump, with assessed points. However, the International Skating Union last year lifted a long-standing ban on the move. It had been performed only once, way back at the Nagano Olympics in 1998 by France’s Surya Bonaly, as a signature trademark and more out of defiance by the cutting-edge skater, who received no credit for the illegal manoeuvre. It simply made her happy.
A handful of men are now doing the dangerous stunt but no other pairs or dance tandem. As a legalized element, it can receive only a grade of execution value, from minus-5 to plus-5. Still, that’s a lot of points and a potential difference-maker.
“Maxime was actually quite against it originally because it was an Olympic year and he didn’t want me to hurt myself. But I said, you just have to trust me.’’
Deschamps thought the whole scheme was ridiculous. “At first, she was having this crazy idea of stepping from shoulder and jumping,” he said. “Like, no way.’’
Reluctantly, Deschamps agreed to give it a shot. They hired former Canadian gymnastics Olympian Rose Kaying Woo as an instructor and began in the gym, in their shoes. Then they laced on the skates, moving from the pit to the mat to the vault. Deschamps taped Stellato-Dudek’s guards to her blades, adjusting the movement so that she could get underneath him properly, stepping off his hand to push off.
They nailed it on the first day and Deschamps became a believer. It’s still a risky move but Stellato-Dudek is fearless: “It’s no longer the scariest thing I’ve tried.’’
The original plan was to debut the back flip in their first Grand Prix assignment this season in France next month. Because it was working so well and they were itching to incorporate it into their short program, it was unveiled this past week at the John Nicks competition in New York. They wowed and won gold.
“It’s to be different, to be new,’’ Stellato-Dudek explained at the recent Skate Canada high-performance camp. “Max and I, almost every year we’ve done something that nobody else does. Sometimes it gets copied, sometimes it doesn’t. But I don’t think this one’s going to be copied any time soon.”
The 33-year-old discovered he could still jump while practising for Stars on Ice. So now he’s jumping back into the fray and hoping to land in Milan.
The 33-year-old discovered he could still jump while practising for Stars on Ice. So now he’s jumping back into the fray and hoping to land in Milan.
As the season rolls on toward Milan, the duo will hone their routines, elevate their jumping quality and at some point insert a triple-double-double, which they consider essential for medal worthiness against the top-pair teams in the world.
Their status as reigning world champions a year ago had been great for the ego but challenging in practice. “Last year for them was a learning curve,’’ said Michael Slipchuk, high-performance director at Skate Canada. “You’re world champions and you have to figure out how to be that. There were a lot of ups and downs.’’
Stellato-Dudek insists they’re in a better place now, as the hunters instead of the hunted: “Last year, coming in and trying to defend, the amount that we were asked and the amount that it was talked about, it was very difficult to tune that out.
“Coming from behind and having our competitors think that we’re not going to be trouble this year pleases me to no end because I love to shock people.’’
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