MILAN (AP) — U.S.-born Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Canadian pairs partner Maxime Deschamps were able to practice Friday, two days before the individual competition begins, for the first time since her head injury put their Olympics in question.
The former world champions were forced to withdraw from last weekend's figure skating team event after Stellato-Dudek hit her head on the ice during a training session on Jan. 30 in Quebec. She declined to describe
the exact nature of the injury, saying only that it wasn't a concussion, and pronounced herself ready to compete in her first Winter Games.
“The last week and a half has been a living nightmare that I would not wish on anybody,” said the 42-year-old Stellato-Dudek, who was born in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois. “I have been told by doctors I've made a remarkable recovery.”
Stellato-Dudek said she had been closely monitored by Skate Canada and passed all of the required medical evaluations.
“It has been difficult. The dream was like, slipping under her feet," Deschamps said. “I still believed in Deanna the whole time, and I've been training super hard during that time, and just supporting. And we were still hoping and everything.”
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps are considered podium contenders in a wide-open Olympic field when the short program begins Sunday night. They are just two years removed from their world title and won Skate Canada last fall.
Stellato-Dudek has taken a circuitous route to the Olympics. She was an accomplished singles skater for the U.S. before retiring in 2001, then she decided to make a comeback after 16 years in the pairs event. She spent a few years with Nathan Bartholomay before pairing up with Deschamps, and eventually beginning the long process of obtaining Canadian citizenship.
When that came through in December 2024, it allowed Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps to try qualifying for the Olympics.
“To be honest, since we arrived here and we saw the Olympic rings, like, we've taken a bunch of photographs and I've cried before every one, so I've looked hideous in every picture I've taken,” she said. “When I set out on this journey in 2016, not one person told me I would make it to the Olympics, and I thought I would be there at — God, 34, and I'm 42.
“So to know me,” Stellato-Dudek said, "is to know that I wasn't going to go down without a fight.”
Stellato-Dudek admitted to being a little bit scared getting back onto the ice so soon after her injury. But she offered a quote that is often attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“And I'm like, ‘Well, I checked that box. No problem,'” she said.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps did make one change to their program in light of her injury, removing a planned backflip because of its inherent danger. The backflip is not a scored element, simply a fan-favorite, so it doesn't affect their potential score.
“You have fear but you go through it. That's it,” Stellato-Dudek said. “There's no other option.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
