MILAN, ITALY (Feb. 16, 2026) — Canada’s pairs skaters were back in action on Monday for the free program segment at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. 

After an outstanding performance in the short program, Lia Pereira (Milton, Ont.) and Trennt Michaud (Trenton, Ont.) sat in third place coming into the segment, with Deanna Stellato-Dudek (Vaudreuil, Que.) and Maxime Deschamps (Vaudreuil, Que.) sitting in 14th. 

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were first to skate for Canada, scoring 126.57 with their free program for an overall score of 192.61. The pair lost out on two weeks of training time after Stellato-Dudek sustained an injury at practice leading up to the Games, so to have been able to perform at the level that they have is amazing, Stellato-Dudek said after their skate. 

“I joke with Maxime that he literally and figuratively always carries me through when I’m having a hard time and he did not disappoint tonight,” she said.

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps finished 11th overall. With the emotions of the last two weeks and the stress of competing in the rear view, the pair looks forward to finally enjoying the Olympic experience they worked so hard to have. 

“I look forward to having that Olympic experience now that the ‘work’ is done and to take the photo with Maxime in front of the rings,” Stellato-Dudek added.  

For Pereira and Michaud, things got a bit rocky during the free skate with Michaud taking a fall and Pereira slipping during the death spiral, placing her hand on the ice. Despite this, they still pulled together a strong skate, scoring 125.06 and earning 199.66 points overall to place eighth. 

“There were obviously a couple of things that didn’t go the way that we’d planned but we felt really good in practice, going into warm up and even at the beginning of the program,” said Michaud. “Skating in the last group of the Olympics for the first time is pretty cool. Lots to take out of it and we’re super proud of both of us for it.” 

On the podium, Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won gold with an overall score of 231.24. Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (221.75) took silver and Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (219.09) won bronze. 

Tune in Tuesday starting at 12:45 PM ET to catch Madeline Schizas (Oakville, Ont.) in the women’s singles short program as the final few days of skating at these Olympic Games get underway. 

For complete results, click here.