Better late than never

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2024 (379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HALIFAX — Ya gotta start somewhere.

For Canada’s reigning world pairs figure skating champion Deanna Stellato-Dudek that somewhere was a suburban Winnipeg ice rink.

At what was then known as Dakota Communiplex, the now 41-year-old launched what has become one of sport’s most unorthodox, circuitous and inspiring climbs to the top of the global podium. The year was 1998. She had just turned 15.

“Back then I would always say ‘I wanna kick butt.’ That would always be my mentality as I entered an event and that’s not really any different now, but it’s taken a different form,” Stellato-Dudek said, laughing.

“(Now) it’s more like, have confidence in yourself, stand firmly in your own shoes, be who you are and bring the uniqueness that only you have in the sport but, of course, still kick butt.”

This weekend in Halifax, Stellato-Dudek and partner Maxime Deschamps, 32, are looking to defend their title at Skate Canada International, the second of six ISU Grand Prix events. The couple’s multiple wins last season, including the world championship, elevated them to bona fide Olympic contender status with the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina looming on the horizon.

Yet, the seemingly ageless Stellato-Dudek has never forgotten her first international assignment as a singles competitor for Team USA.

“It was so exciting at that age to get an international and even though it was only in Canada, it still felt like such a big deal,” recalled the Chicago-born athlete.

Stellato-Dudek was one of eight young women chosen to compete in Winnipeg at the 1998 North American Challenge Skate ((NACS), a now defunct event intended to give promising novice level skaters from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico early experiences with international competition.

The Free Press reported at the time Stellato had “created the biggest buzz of the competition” as she “nailed triple jump after triple jump” during practice sessions at the Dakota rink.

When asked what she wanted to accomplish in the next three years, the then U.S. novice women’s champion answered, “Well, that’s the year before the (2002) Olympics, so I want to be world champion and the next year win the Olympics.”

When reminded of her long-ago ambition following the pairs practice on Thursday, Stellato-Dudek exclaimed, “Wow. That’s so crazy. Had the (Olympic mindset), then didn’t, then got it back.

“The 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Olympics, I was actually aiming for both,” she continued. “2006 was also in Italy, so it’s very hilarious that 20 years later I’m trying to go the Olympics in Italy again. It’s a very full circle, comedic moment.”

Stellato-Dudek could well have won her first international in Winnipeg had she not injured her ankle in practice before the free skate. Instead, she hobbled into Dakota on crutches to watch her event final from the sidelines. Meanwhile, her teammate Johnny Weir, the eventual three-time U.S. champion and 2008 world bronze medallist, won the NACS men’s event hands down. Weir, coincidentally, will provide NBC coverage of Skate Canada this weekend.

Stellato-Dudek went on to win silver at the 2000 world junior championships. She graduated to compete in senior company at Skate Canada later that year alongside superstar Michelle Kwan, but was then forced off the ice by a recurring hip injury, precipitating her retirement in 2001. She was just 17.

Stellato-Dudek’s Olympic dream floated in the ether for 15 years until, in a surprising twist of fate, her teenage ambition flickered back to life while working at a plastic surgeon’s office in Chicago.

What would you do if you knew you would not fail? asked the conversation-starter card she drew during a workplace teambuilding activity.

The long retired athlete blurted out, “I would win an Olympic gold medal.”

That startling answer changed the trajectory of her life and triggered a comeback story for the ages.

When Stellato-Dudek laced up her skates again at age 32 — well past retirement age for most elite female figure skaters, she was advised to try pairs. She learned the overhead lifts, throw jumps and death spirals unique to that discipline with veteran U.S. competitor Nate Bartholomay. The couple showed promise but injury took him out of the game three years later, and she crossed the border to become Canadian Deschamps’ ninth partner.

Passion, grit and determination have fuelled the Montreal-based duo’s five-year ascent to the pinnacle of the sport. Now, Stellato-Dudek’s second chance to win Olympic gold is just 15 months off.

Before the couple can don their red and white Olympic gear, however, she must be granted Canadian citizenship. (Unlike the World Championships, the Games require both partners to be citizens of the country they represent.)

Ten thousand people signed a change.org petition in support of her application, Stellato-Dudek reported. She’s studying every day for the citizenship exam which she expects to take early next year.

Last season at age 40, Stellato-Dudek made figure skating history as the oldest woman to win a world title. She will be 42 come Games time in 2026.

If she and Deschamps can land on the Olympic podium, she will make Olympic history as the oldest female pairs skater to win a medal, easily outdistancing Finland’s Ludowika Jakobsson-Eilers, who was 39 when she claimed silver in 1924 at the first Olympic Winter Games.

Skate Canada International will be livestreamed on CBC Sports online beginning with the pairs short program at 4 p.m. CT Friday.