Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud secure 8th-place pairs finish in Olympic debut

Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud capped off a strong Olympic debut with an eighth-place finish in the individual pairs figure skating event at Milano-Cortina 2026 on Monday.

In the same event, 42-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek and partner Maxime Deschamps made a valiant comeback in the free program to finish 11th after a devastating fall in the short programs on Sunday.

"It's just so special to, obviously, reach this goal and this margin, but to do it with Canada behind us, like we've had so much support," Pereira told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux.

"We are very proud of a lot of the stuff we put out today. We're always hungry and always want more, but it's just been overwhelming, the amount of support we felt. So we're very lucky for that."

Winning the gold medal was Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, while Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava won silver, with Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin securing bronze.

The fight for the podium was a tight race as only five points separated second through ninth after the short programs.

Skating to the Gladiator soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, Pereira and Michaud scored 125.06 in the free program. Combined with their personal best performance in the short program Sunday, the pair also set a personal best overall of 199.66.

Pereira and Michaud also placed fifth with Canada in the team event where they set a personal best in the free program last week.

"Just coming into this event being so confident, coming in with the national championship title on our back, it's just all of those little things, and all the work we put in [has] now been shown," Pereira said.

"It's just been a really, really amazing experience."

Pereira and Michaud came into the