Fourth place for Maxime Deschamps and Deanna Stellato-Dudek

Competing in Seoul, South Korea, three-time national figure skating champions Maxime Deschamps Stellato-Dudek placed 4th at the ISU Four Continents Championships.

Injured in training just before leaving for South Korea, Deanna Stellato-Dudek was still feeling pain in one leg when she took to the ice.

Nevertheless, this didn't stop the reigning world champions from finishing fourth in the short program with a score of 69.66.

For Maxime Deschamps, Thursday's result was “the best thing that could have happened to [them]”, he told Sportcom journalists. It allowed them to bounce back on Friday, without worrying about defending their place in the provisional rankings. The free program score of 141.26 and cumulative score of 210.92 represent two personal bests this season.

"We trained really hard, but it was hard to translate that into competition. We were able to skate with more freedom and have fun. That's something we hadn't been able to do yet this season," said the Vaudreuil-Dorion-born skater.

This is the third time that the pairing of Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps has won a medal at the Four Continents Championships. Bronze medallists in 2023, they were crowned champions last year.