Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps headline Canadian figure skating team for Four Continents

Roman Sadovsky captured his second national title with a strong performance at last weekend's Canadian figure skating championships.

He'll have to deliver again to represent Canada at the world championships.

Skate Canada revealed all its assignments Monday for the competition to be held from March 24 to 30 in Boston, except the only men’s spot.

That selection will be made after Sadovsky, Wesley Chiu and Aleksa Rakic battle it out at next month’s Four Continents championship in Seoul.

“No one's really set themselves ahead of the pack,” Skate Canada high-performance director Mike Slipchuk said. “With all that's at stake at a worlds before Olympics with qualification, we want to make sure we have the athlete that's tracking with the best possibility at that time.

“You want to see someone step forward and say, this is my spot and I'm going to take it.”

Canada will also send three ice dance teams, three pairs, and one woman to Boston. A top-10 finish in the men’s or women’s event would help the country secure a second entry at the 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps look to defend their title in pairs. Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, and Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier round out that contingent.

World silver medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier aim for ice dance gold. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha join them along with Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer.

Madeline Schizas retained Canada's only women's spot after convincingly winning her third Canadian title Sunday in Laval, Que.

“She's posted the top scores all season, and then just backed that up with a great skate at nationals,” Slipchuk said. “It was a very clear decision that she's that entry for worlds.”

The men's situation was less obvious, even though Slipchuk was encouraged by Sadovsky's showing at nationals.

Chiu missed the competition because of an ankle injury that has kept him out for months. Rakic, meanwhile, withdrew following a shaky short program after fighting an illness in the lead-up.

Internationally, Sadovsky’s season-best score of 225.24 leads the pack, though Rakic isn’t far behind at 222.49. Chiu has been limited to 206.94 but produced 240.38 at Four Continents last year.

“We want to give them all another opportunity to compete, and also to compete with an international panel,” Slipchuk said. “That’s where you get a sense of where the scores are gonna be moving into a worlds.”

The Four Continents — set for Feb. 19 to 23 — is an annual precursor to the world championships involving skaters from non-European countries.

All skaters on Canada's world-championship roster will compete at Four Continents, along with the men's selections and women's skaters Sara-Maude Dupuis and Katherine Medland Spence.

It will be Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps's last chance to build confidence before defending their title in Boston.

Frustrated by a sub-par free skate that was only second-best on the day, they weren't happy Saturday despite winning a third consecutive national title.

“I don't really know what's happening this year, if I'm being totally honest,” a fuming Stellato-Dudek said after competing. “I don't know how many more clean run-throughs I have to do at home to do it in competition.”

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps have stacked up medals this season but haven’t reached their world-championship calibre heights. Their best score this season is 207.44, well short of their 221.56 points at worlds last year in Montreal.

They went two months between competitions after Deschamps’s illness forced them out of the Grand Prix Final in December. That same month, Stellato-Dudek, a 41-year-old from Chicago, gained Canadian citizenship and became eligible to compete for Canada for the Olympics.

With that in mind, Stellato-Dudek said 2025 felt like the beginning of a new season, but it wasn’t the start they wanted.

“If they skate to what their potential is, they're gonna be 15-20 points higher,” Slipchuk said. “You need to work through these things and you have to learn what it's like to be a world champion and carry that title and that everyone’s chasing you.

“You regroup, you go to Four Continents and get another event.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2025.