After winning gold with personal bests 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 onto the top step of the podium.
The Canadian duo was already well established in the lead on Friday after the short program where they obtained a score of 70.39. Things continued well for Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps on Saturday in the free skate where their 131.09 points secured them the gold medal with a total of 201.48.
“It’s been a long battle in the last few weeks and we are proud of the work accomplished,” said Maxime Deschamps.
“It’s been a huge marathon of competitions, but also of travel in recent times. We are very happy because we were able to test our physical and mental limits. Everything went well, so it’s a great victory and now we can rest,” added Deanna Stellato-Dudek.
The Canadians were accompanied on the podium by the Italians Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (191.00 points) as well as the Chinese Cheng Peng and Lei Wang (178.06 points).
For their part, ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha once again took second place on the podium, having also won a silver medal at the Skate America Grand Prix in Allen, Texas, earlier this season.
The two Quebecers had an excellent day on Friday, temporarily finding themselves in first place after the rhythm dance, 0.98 points ahead of their compatriots Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
The latter, champions in Vancouver two weeks earlier, pulled out all the stops on Saturday during the free dance to be able to beat Lajoie and Lagha, who finished second with a total of 206.02 points against 207.83 for the Gilles duo -Poirier.
“It was a great weekend for both of us. We are extremely proud of our rhythm dance performance. The free dance was a bigger challenge for us, but I think we handled it very well,” said Lajoie.
Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons rounded out the podium with 189.33 points.
With their two silver medals so far this season, the Quebecers are in an excellent position to secure their ticket to the Grand Prix final, scheduled for Beijing, China, from December 7 to 10.
“We need to change a few small aspects of our routines. We are going to train hard, but above all, we want to take advantage of the few days off. We are very excited to compete in the Grand Prix Final and have the opportunity to skate in China once again,” concluded Lagha.
