Reigning world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec won the gold medal at the International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki on Sunday. This is the fifth gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix level for Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps as they previously won the 2022 Grand Prix of France, the 2023 Grand Prix of China, and the 2023 and 2024 Skate Canada.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps posted a winning score of 207.44 points. Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary won the silver medal with a score of 184.21 points, and Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy won the bronze medal with a score of 181.59 points. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps reached the podium by 28.87 points over fellow Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin of Saint-Jerome, Quebec, and Loucas Ethier of Saint-Eustache, Quebec, who finished in fourth place with a score of 178.57 points.
Canadians won one more medal in Helsinki. In the ice dance, Piper Gilles of Toronto, Ontario, and Paul Poirier of Ottawa, Ontario won silver in the ice dance. They posted a score of 200.79 points. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain won the gold medal with an overall score of 203.22 points, and Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis of Finland won the bronze medal with a score of 196.6 points. Gilles and Poirier reached the podium by 10.36 points over Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler of the Czech Republic, who had a fourth place score of 190.43 points. The medals for Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps, Gilles and Poirier will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
