After winning personal best gold medals at the Skate Canada Grand Prix in Vancouver two weeks ago, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps continued their momentum at the Chongqinq Grand Prix in China on Saturday, once again climbing to the top step of the podium. .
The Canadian duo already consolidated their lead on Friday after the short program in which they received a score of 70.39. Things continued in good fashion for Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps on Saturday during the free program where their 131.09 points secured them the gold medal with a total score of 201.48.
“It has been a long battle in the last few weeks and we are proud of the work achieved,” said Maxime Deschamps.
“It was a big marathon of competition, but also travel lately. We are very happy because we were able to test our physical and mental limits. Everything went well, so this is a big win and now we can rest,” added Deanna Stellato-Dudek.
The Canadians were joined on the podium by the Italians Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (191.00 points) and the Chinese Cheng Peng and Lei Wang (178.06 points).
For their part, ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha took second place on the podium again, after also winning a silver medal at the Skate America Grand Prix in Allen, Texas, earlier this season.
The two Quebecers had a great day on Friday, temporarily taking first place after the rhythmic dance, 0.98 points ahead of their compatriots Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
The latter, champions in Vancouver two weeks earlier, gave it their all on Saturday during the free dance to beat Lajoie and Lagha, who finished second with a total of 206.02 points compared to 207.83 for the Gilles.-Poirier duo.
“It was a great weekend for both of us. We are extremely proud of our rhythm dance performance. The free dance was more of a challenge for us, but I think we handled it very well,” said Lajoie.
Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons were on the podium with 189.33 points.
With their two silver medals so far this season, the Quebecers are in excellent position to secure a ticket to the Grand Prix Finals, scheduled for Beijing, China, from December 7-10.
“We have to change some small aspects of our routines. We will train hard, but first of all we want to take advantage of a few days off. We are very excited to compete in the Grand Prix Final and have the opportunity to skate in China again,” concluded Lagha.
