2025 Skate Canada: Pairs’ Podium (From L to R): Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (GER), Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (CAN), and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (USA).
2025 Skate Canada: Pairs
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada rose from second place to take their third consecutive Skate Canada title on Saturday night in Saskatoon. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin slipped to second for the silver after a fall in the free skate, while USA’s Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea rose from fourth to claim the bronze.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps
The 2024 World Champions opened their dramatic short program to Carmina Burana with a level-four triple twist, but Deschamps had to hang on to the landing of the triple toes. Nevertheless, the throw triple loop was solid, and they went on to earn a level four on the footwork and lift. However, the death spiral was graded a level one. They placed second in this segment with 73.03 points.
“For us, it was more attack than what we did in France,” said Deschamps when comparing the performances. “We got some little silly mistakes on some stuff, but it’s okay. We’ll get back and work on them to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“We had five days in between France and here, so we tried to time the (triple) toes a little bit better,” added Stellato-Dudek. “It was working in practice, but they were not timed in the run through As far as characters are concerned, I mean that’s a strength of mine and a strength of Maxime’s. We were very drawn to this music when we first heard it, so it comes very naturally to us.”
Skating to “Poeta en el Mar” and “Amor Dulce Muerte,” the 2024 Four Continents champions opened with a level-four triple twist followed by a side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. The triple Salchows were downgraded to doubles, but the throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow were solid. Two lifts earned a level four, but the final lift received a level three with a base value. Nevertheless, they scored a new season’s best of 140.37 for first place in the free skate. Their total score was 213.40.
“We’ve won Skate Canada before, but this one, it holds so much weight being in the big year,” said Stellato-Dudek. “We’re just really proud that we can have this victory in front of a home crowd.”
“It felt good,” added Deschamps. “We have been practicing so well at home, and even every competition practice we’ve been doing. Today was not perfect, but still a great performance. You just have to keep training hard and keep attacking and it will come.”
After winning the silver at the Grand Prix de France two weeks ago, the team solidified their spot at the Grand Prix Final with this win.
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin
The 2025 World silver medalists produced a seamless and evocative short program to “El Abrazo,” earning high grades of execution (GOE) throughout. The team opened with a level-three triple twist, followed by solid side-by-side triple Salchows. The throw triple loop was strong, and the team earned a level four on their lift, death spiral, spin and footwork. With a score of 77.53—under a mere tenth of their personal best—they placed first going into the free skate.
The skaters were happy with their performance and felt it was the “best one of the season” so far.
“We could show pretty much all levels and elements except for the twist,” said Hase. “So, this is something to work on.”
Hase was ill during the Challenger Series in Georgia, while Volodin fell sick afterwards. However, they were able to rest and get in 10 days of “good training.”
“We’re really happy and glad that it worked out good today for us, especially since I didn’t feel in my zone today,” said Hase. “But Dima (Savin, coach) told me to trust my body.”
After two falls in the free skate, the 2025 European champions slipped from first to third place overall (129.65/207.18). Volodin fell on the side-by-side triple toes while Hase went down on a throw triple flip. Their routine to Memoryhouse otherwise featured solid side-by-side triple Salchows, a throw triple loop, and level four lifts.
“We’re not quite happy with the performance,” said Hase. “There were two big mistakes, but the rest of the elements, besides the mistakes we were really happy with. We could show what we worked on, which was conditioning. We skated full power till the end, and I had the feeling that we did better compared to the competitions before, so that’s a plus. We have a lot of room to grow, so we will go back and have two weeks until Finlandia Trophy to get there.”
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea
The 2024 Four Continents bronze medalists placed fourth with a new season’s best (65.48) in the short program with their heartfelt routine to “Hallelujah” by K.D. Lang. Kam underrotated the triple Salchows and stepped out of the throw triple loop, but the spins, lift and death spiral were graded a level four.
Skating to “Sweet Dreams” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” the two-time Grand Prix medalists produced a triple twist and side-by-side triple toes. The only error came when Kam landed the second half of the triple Salchow-double Axel sequence on the quarter. While she hung on to the landing of a throw triple flip, the throw triple loop was solid. The team also earned a level four on the pair spin and two lifts, scoring a new personal best of 133.63. The placed second in the free skate and moved up to third overall with 199.11 points.
“We were very happy with the program today,” said O’Shea. “It was a tough off season for us. Three months off the ice for myself and a month off for Ellie for random injuries and surgeries. We see ourselves be in a good path as we continue to grow with each competition. We’re happy to be able to perform the way we did today and put that out there. I’m excited to keep the improvement going on.”
The 2025 U.S. bronze medalists take 11 points with them from this event going into their next Grand Prix at Finlandia Trophy.
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada put out a stirring and solid short program, earning a new personal best (70.66) for third place despite a one-point deduction for a time violation. Their routine to “Say You Love Me” included a level-three triple twist, side-by-side triple toes, and throw triple loop. They also earned many positive GOEs throughout while receiving a level-four for the lift, spin, and death spiral.
The team was “very pleased” with their skate.
“We put in a lot of work, especially on this short program,” said Pereira. “We really worked hard on the performance in trying to really portray a story and just improve on our skating skills to get within the top teams in the world. I feel like we were able to do that today along with the elements. So, we’re very proud of ourselves today.”
Michaud pointed out that they’ve already competed this program several times this year.
“Every time we’ve come back from a competition, we’ve gotten some very good feedback,” he said. “We’ve gone back to see Maddie (Hubbell) and Adrian (Diaz) and really tried to hone in on those things that were said to us from the judges.”
The 2025 Four Continents bronze medalists placed fifth in the free skate (115.88). Pereira didn’t complete the last jump in the triple toe-double Axel sequence and stepped out of the side-by-side triple Salchows while Michaud put a foot down on his. Pereira also took a fall on a throw triple flip, but all lifts and the pair spin were graded a level four.
“The preparation leading in was very well done for both of us and our whole team at home,” said Pereira. “And even the preparation while we were here, some of the best competition practices we’ve laid down. I feel like we set a really good foundation. Unfortunately, the only mistakes made this week were in that program. So, it’s very upsetting just because of the consistency we’ve had even within the past months since Oberstdorf.”
The team will return home to train and prepare for Finlandia Trophy.
Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier of Canada finished fifth overall (168.24), followed by Great Britain’s Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby (167.94) and Oxana Vouillamoz and Tom Bouvart of Switzerland (165.94).
Related Info:
