Canadian figure skaters moving ahead without Stellato-Dudek in Olympic team event

Canada's Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud skated circles around an empty sheet of ice as "Carmina Burana" boomed from the arena's loudspeakers during a practice session Wednesday.

The short-program music belonged to Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, but the former world champions were nowhere to be seen.

"Our heart goes out to them," Pereira said. "No athlete ever wishes to have that happen, and especially so close to the Games. We've known Deanna and Max for the last couple of years; they're competitors, but they're also friends and teammates.

"It was really weird arriving here and them not being here."

At 42, Stellato-Dudek was set to become the oldest female figure skater in nearly a century to compete at the Olympics, until a training accident in Quebec put her chances of skating at the Milan Cortina Games in jeopardy.

She and Deschamps have withdrawn from the team event, which begins Friday with the rhythm dance, but Stellato-Dudek has not yet been ruled out of the individual pairs event on Feb. 15-16, with her condition being evaluated daily.

Skate Canada high-performance director Mike Slipchuk said "in a perfect world" a final decision from the medical staff would come by Feb. 10. That would give Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps enough time to travel and acclimate — or allow alternates Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier to step in as replacements.

"It's kind of two phases," Slipchuk said of Stellato-Dudek, who had not yet returned to on-ice training. "You've got to be medically healthy, and then once that it's getting back on the ice, but I think if you get to the ice part, you're definitely much closer."

Deanna Stellato-Dudek awaits doctor decision on if she can compete at Milano Cortina 2026

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