Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps with pairs gold at Grand Prix de France

ANGERS, France (November 5, 2022) – Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won the gold in pairs Saturday to highlight a two-medal day for Canada at the Grand Prix de France, the third stop on the ISU Grand Prix circuit.

Montreal ice dancers Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen performed well adding a silver medal.

In pairs, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que.  earned their second medal this season on the circuit with 185.84 points. They were silver medallists at the season opener Skate America last month.

With medals in both Grand Prix assignments, they are headed to the Grand Prix Final in December.

‘’We’re still a pretty new team on the international circuit so every experience is still new,’’ said Stellato-Dudek, who joined forces with Deschamps in 2019. ‘’We’re happy with how we came back in the long program and fought. We’re excited to make the Final.’’

Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev of France took the silver with 179.85 and Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel of Germany were third at 179.73.

In ice dancing, Fournier Beaudry and Sorensen reached the international podium for the second time this season with 201.93 points capped by their Western-themed free dance. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy took the gold with 207.95 and Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France were third at 187.15.

The Canadians, now with five career Grand Prix medals, won the gold at the Finlandia Trophy in Finland last month with a slightly higher score.

‘’We’re really happy with how we skated all weekend,’’ said Sorensen. ‘’Getting the silver medal is like the icing on the cake. We created a moment for ourselves, and it was just amazing.’’

Molly Lanaghan and Dmitre Razgulajevs of Scarborough, Ont., were 10^th in their Grand Prix debut.

In men’s competition, Adam Siao Him Fa of France finished ahead of two Japanese skaters to win the gold with 268.98 after ranking third in Friday’s short program.

Sota Yamamoto was second at 257.90 and Kazuki Tomono third at 248.77.

Wesley Chiu of Richmond, B.C., was 10^th.

The next stop on the circuit is November 11-12 in Sheffield, England.

For full results.