By Gina Capellazzi and Rylie Smith, Team FSO
Photos by Robin Ritoss
VANCOUVER — The last time Deanna Stellato-Dudek skated at Skate Canada International was 2000. She finished 5th as a singles skater for the United States. Now 23 years later, at the age of 40, she’s the Skate Canada International champion in pairs with her partner, Maxime Deschamps, of Canada.
In the free skate, the 2023 Canadian champions had a nearly clean skate, complete with a level 4 triple twist, side-by-side triple toe-single Axel-double Axel sequence and throw triple salchow and triple loop.Their only mistake came on the side-by-side triple salchows as Stellato-Dudek two-footed the landing of the jump. They received a minus 0.25 GOE for the element. They earned a free skate score of 142.39, crushing their previous ISU best score of 131.82, which they achieved at Autumn Classic earlier this fall. They earned an overall score of 214.64, which was a 11 points higher than their previous personal best of 203.62. When the scores were read in the kiss and cry, Stellato-Dudek screamed with excitement.
“It’s still early in the season, but we’ve been waiting for a performance like this for years. We have been training up for it,” Stellato-Dudek said. “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.”
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps will compete next at Cup of China, where they should qualify for their second Grand Prix Final.
In fourth after the short program, Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary moved up two spots to claim the silver medal, their first Grand Prix Series event medal. In their free skate, they nailed a triple twist and a triple toe-double Axel-double Axel, as well as a throw triple flip and loop. Pavlova and Sviatchenko, who won the bronze at Finlandia Trophy earlier in the month, earned a season best’s free skate score of 125.56 and a total score of 187.78, which was also a season’s best score.
“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,” Pavlova said following the free skate. “Our federation is happy for us. We’re giving good results for our country and we will continue to do that.
Pavlova and Sviatchenko will compete next at Grand Prix Espoo.
Italy’s Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise, who were in second after the short program, dropped to fourth in the free skate after Guarise fell on the side-by-side triple toe, and Beccari doubled the planned side-by-side triple salchows.They earned a free skate score of 115.59 and slipped to third from second with a total score of 181.42. This is Beccari’s first Grand Prix medal. For Guarise, he won three Grand Prix medals with his previous partner, Nicole Della Monica.
“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,” Beccari told the media.
Following Skate Canada, Beccari and Guarise learned they will now have a second Grand Prix event. They will now compete at NHK Trophy.
Australia’s Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore, who were in third after the short program and third in the free skate, dropped to fourth overall with 179.61 points. Canada’s Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier moved up from seventh after the short program to finish fifth with 168.12 points.
Women
Skate Canada hosted a highly-talented group of women, both international and domestic. Two-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan was among the 12 women who competed, and she added yet another win to her record with two impressive programs.
Sakamoto reached a new season best in the free skate with a score of 151.00, which she opened with a stunning double Axel, among level four spins and a level four step sequence. She landed on top of the podium with a massive lead, nearly 25 points, over silver medalist Chaeyeon Kim.
“I feel very much relieved and serene about the performance. I was very calm, I had a good tension and felt really comfortable out there. It’s a great feeling seeing this score. This is my seventh season, but so far I have won only four Grand Prix events, so I still have a long way to go,” Sakamoto said.
Sakamoto will now compete at Grand Prix Espoo.
Kim, of Korea, finished second with a total score of 201.15 and a season’s best in the short program. She opened the short program with a double Axel and earned level fours on all but one spin, as well as her step sequence. She struggled with her triple flips in the free, but as the youngest competitor at Skate Canada, she still put out a stunning program to put her on the podium in senior Grand Prix debut.
“I made some mistakes, but I am still very happy to be second. I had an ankle injury last week, so I was worried, and even though the program wasn’t perfect, it was still good,” Kim said after the free skate.
Kim will look to qualify for her first senior Grand Prix Final when she competes at Grand Prix Espoo.
Rino Matsuike of Japan took home the bronze medal, her first Grand Prix medal. Matsuike landed a triple loop and triple salchow in her free skate, but had five jumps called under-rotated. She earned a few level four spins and level four step sequences in each program. She earned a free skate score of 132.33 and a total combined score of 198.62.
“I can’t believe I’m here and won a medal. I was very nervous, but after the first (triple) loop I felt comfortable,” Matsuike told the media. “There were some small mistakes, such as underrotations, but overall I put it all together.”
Matsuike wasn’t originally assigned to Skate Canada. She was the replacement for Rika Kihira, who withdrew at the end of September. At this time, Matsuike does not have a second Grand Prix event.
Two-time Canadian champion Madeline Schizas, who was in eighth place after the short program, sought redemption in the free skate. She landed seven clean triple jumps to finish second in the free skate with a score of 132.47. She finished fourth overall with 189.91 points. Schizas will compete at Cup of China for her second Grand Prix event.
Three US women also took the ice at Skate Canada. Lindsay Thorngren finished 5th, Audrey Shin finished 7th and Starr Andrews finished 8th. 2022 Skate Canada Champion Rinka Watanabe, of Japan, finished sixth.
Men
The men’s event was one with many hard-fought spots on the podium.
Sota Yamamoto of Japan took home the gold with a total score of 258.42, less than a point over the second-place finisher. This was his first Grand Prix gold medal.
Yamamoto had an almost-clean short program with just an under rotation on the quadruple salchow. He earned a season’s best in both the short program. In his free skate, Yamamoto had three quadruple jumps: quadruple salchow, quadruple toe-triple toe and a solo quadruple toe. Yamamoto did fall on his triple Axel, but recovered to land three more clean triple jumps. Yamamoto posted a season’s best score of 168.68 points, which was third in the free skate. He managed to retain the top spot with a total score of 258.42 points, which was just a half point ahead of his countrymate Kao Miura.
“I knew this competition would be very important as it leads to the Grand Prix Final,” he said following the free skate. “I was nervous, but once I got on the ice and during the performance I was able to enjoy the skating and I think that led to this result today. I still got a lot of things to improve before I get to my next event, which is the Cup of China.”
Kao Miura, also of Japan, took home the silver medal with a total score of 257.89. Miura placed fourth in the short program after doubling a quadruple toe, but then rallied his way to the podium with his free skate. In the free, he skated clean aside from a fall on the triple Axel. He earned a new season’s best of 177.09 to win the free skate. He finished with a total score of 257.89.
“I was able to put together a pretty good performance and I am satisfied with my second place,” said Miura, who will next compete at Grand Prix Espoo.
The bronze medal winner may have come as a surprise to skating fans. Matteo Rizzo of Italy took home the bronze medal, a particularly impressive feat after finishing 8th in the short program, 15 points behind the leader Yamamoto. The 2023 European silver medalist delivered a quadruple toe and a quadruple loop, along with five clean triple jumps in his free skate. His only mistake was a step on a triple Axel. Rizzo earned a free skate score of 171.02, which was second in the free skate. He climbed his way up onto the podium with a total score of 246.01. This marks Rizzo’s fourth ISU Grand Prix bronze medal.
“You have to believe in something. I knew I could go on the podium,” Rizzo said. “Everything is possible in men’s skating. I was 15 points behind Sota. That is not so much for us, it is one element.”
Like Miura, Rizzo will compete next at Grand Prix Espoo.
Japan’s third competitor in the men’s event, Kazuki Tomono finished less than a point behind Rizzo in fourth place (245.12 points). 2022 World Junior silver medalist, Mikhail Shaidorov, of Kazakhstan, was fifth with 241.65 points, while Israel’s Mark Gorodnitsky jumped from 11th after the short program to finish sixth with a total score of 225.35. World silver medalist Junhwan Cha, of Korea, dropped second ater the short program to ninth with 216.61 points. Cha made several errors in the free skate, including three falls.
Liam Kapeikis of USA, the only men’s skater to compete from the U.S., finished in 8th place overall.
Dance
Kicking off their 13th season together, Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier win the their fourth consecutive Skate Canada International title. The last time a Canadian ice dance team won four consecutive Skate Canada International titles was Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz, who won five consecutive Skate Canada International titles from 1994-1998.
For the second year in a row, Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson took the silver, while Lithuania’s Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevičius won their first Grand Prix medal of their careers. The medal is the first Grand Prix medal for Lithuania since Isabella Tobias and Deividas Stagniūnas won bronze at Skate America in 2011.
Read more on the dance event over at Ice-Dance.com.
