Helsinki, FIN (November 17, 2024) – Canadian pair skaters Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps continued their domination on the ISU Grand Prix circuit this weekend at the Finlandia Trophy, taking place in Helsinki, Finland, winning gold in commanding fashion, and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier also climbed onto the podium in ice dance, bringing home silver.

Stellato-Dudek of Chicago, USA and Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., came into the competition fresh off their win at Skate Canada International in Halifax, N.S., and showcased a reworked free skate that secured them the win with a total score of 207.44 – well clear of the silver medallists, Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary who had a total score of 184.21. Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy took the bronze with a total score of 181.59.

“We made some improvements from Skate Canada,” said Stellato-Dudek of their revised program. “We changed the order of the elements which seemed to be received better and felt better. We’re still having some technical problems so we’re going to have to go back and work on them, but everything, short and long, was better than our last outing which is all we can ask for.”

Kelly Ann Laurin of St-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Éthier of St-Alphonse, Que., also had a fantastic weekend, finishing just off the podium in fourth after posting new personal best scores for their free skate (118.12) and a new personal best total score (178.57).

“Our main goal today was to close the competition with a good performance, and we obtained that with a personal best score, so we feel like it’s a good base for the second half of our season,” said Éthier following the competition.

The ice dance competition got off to a strong start for Gilles of Toronto, Ont., and Poirier of Unionville, Ont., who were sitting in first following their “Barbie and Ken at the beach” rhythm dance. Unfortunately, they had some issues with their free dance which gave them fourth-place scores, and dropped them down to finish second overall with a total score of 200.79. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain won gold (203.22), while Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis thrilled their hometown Finnish crowds to take the bronze (196.60).

“Today was a disappointing performance,” said Poirier following their free dance. “We didn’t perform the way we wanted to, and we made a few mistakes, so not the skate that we wanted. But we just have to take it as a learning opportunity as we head into the rest of the season.”

The ISU Grand Prix circuit continues November 22-24, 2024 at the Cup of China being held in Chongqing, China. This event is the last chance for skaters to qualify for the Grand Prix Final which is set to take place in Grenoble, France from December 5-8, 2024.

For full results please click here.