Deanna Stellato-Dudek, Maxime Deschamps skate to pairs silver in Nebelhorn Trophy
Fellow Canadians Lia Pereira, Trennt Michaud finish 5th
Reigning figure skating pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were silver medallists to start their season at the Challenger Series Nebelhorn Trophy.
Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., and Chicago's Stellato-Dudek skated new short and free programs in Oberstdorf, Germany, in the duo's first competition of the 2024-25 season.
They ranked third after their short program skated to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" before bumping up to second in Friday's free skate to a medley of songs.
Stellato-Dudeck and Deschamps scored a total of 206.24 points behind the host country's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin with 218.44.
Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea of the United States ranked third with 184.38.
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"We started the season pretty late because we had a lot of shows last spring, so it was a new preparation for us this year," said Deschamps.
The duo performed in the Stars on Ice tour in Japan and Canada from late March to May following the world championships in Montreal.
"This is where we're at for this time of the year, and we're really pleased with what we did here," Deschamps said.
Their Canadian teammates Lia Pereira of Milton, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Brantford, Ont., finished fifth, as did Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., in men's singles.
"My short program wasn't what I was doing in practice so I was disappointed I couldn't reproduce what I was doing in practice, but I was glad that I was able to turn it around for the long program," Sadovsky said. "It had a few small things here and there that I'd like to improve, but I'm looking forward to the next event.
Canadian men's champ Wesley Chiu of Vancouver ranked sixth after his short program, but struggled in the free skate and dropped to 14th.
Japan's Sota Yamamoto was the gold medallist ahead of runner-up Gabriele Frangipani of Italy and bronze medallist Deniss Vasiljevs of Latvia.
Montreal's Sara-Maude Dupuis was fourth after the women's short program, but placed ninth after Saturday's free skate. Madeline Schizas of Oakville, Ont., finished seventh.
Americans were one-two in women's singles with Elyce Lin-Gracey victorious ahead of Isabeau Levito. Yoshida Hana of Japan was third.
The next Challenger Series event Oct. 3-6 is in Astana, Kazakhstan.
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