(Beijing) Quebecer Maxime Deschamps and his partner Deanna Stellato-Dudek took second place in the pairs after the short program on Thursday at the final of the ISU Grand Prix of figure skating.

Deschamps, of Vaudreuil-Dorion, and his partner earned 71.22 points for their routine, trailing only Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin.

They continued their impressive first season together, collecting 72.56 points for their performance. Italians Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii took third place at 70.30 points, while the other Canadian tandem entered in this competition, that of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, finished in sixth and last place at 61.78.

The couples will be subject to the free program on Friday.

Elsewhere, Ilia Malinin attracted attention on Thursday by landing a quadruple axel, en route to first place in the men’s short program.

The American, who was the first skater to perform four and a half twists in competition last year, also performed a quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination and a triple axel for a cumulative score of 106.90.

Two-time world champion Shoma Uno of Japan followed in second place at 106.02 after landing two quadruple jumps, while his compatriot Yuma Kagiyama was third at 103.72. No Canadian took part in this competition.

The men’s competition will end with the free skate on Saturday.