Canada’s Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps make Olympic debut; Pereira and Michaud sit in pairs bronze position

Ten years after returning to figure skating, 42-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek finally made her Olympic debut.

The Canadian pair qualified for the final free programs, even after a devastating fall in the short program where Stellato-Dudek appeared to trip on partner Maxime Deschamps skate coming down from a lift.

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps currently sit in 14th in the pairs individual competition, scoring 66.04 points in the short program – about eight points below their season’s best – performing to Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

Germany’s Minvera Fabienne and Nikita Volodin are currently in gold medal position while Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are in second.

After a personal best performance, Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud are currently sitting in the third heading into the free program finals on Monday.

Stellato-Dudek is the oldest figure skater to compete at an Olympic Games in almost a century.

But her dream of competing at the Olympics came into question after Stellato-Dudek suffered a head injury in practice on Jan. 30, forcing the pair to pull out of the team competition last week.

Stellato-Dudek had what she said was a “remarkable” recovery to a “nightmare” experience, with the pair confirming their participation in Sunday’s individual event on Thursday.

Stellato-Dudek said the pair were both “very nervous,” having arrived at the Olympics later than other teams, but the pair was “really happy” with how the routine was going until the lift, which she said cost them about 10 points.

Canadians Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps struggle in return from injury

“That’s very disappointing for us only because that’s something that we’re so good at and usually where we rack up the points, not