In late March, Deanna Stellato-Dudek became the oldest-ever figure skater to win a world title. At age 40, skating pairs for Canada with Maxime Deschamps, she won at the ISU World Championships in Montreal.
Perhaps more remarkably, she accomplished this feat after retiring from the sport at age 17 and spending 16 years working off-ice before making her return to the rink.
鈥淚 did it with reckless abandon,鈥 said Stellato-Dudek over video call from Japan where she and Deschamps were performing in the Stars on Ice tour. 鈥淲hether I succeeded or failed, when I鈥檓 80 I could say, 鈥業 have no regrets.鈥欌
Deanna Stellato-Dudek reacts to her record-breaking win.聽
Danielle Earl/Skate CanadaOriginally from the outskirts of Chicago, Stellato-Dudek won the 1999 ISU junior Grand Prix finals and the 2000 junior U.S. nationals as a singles figure skater. Then, she said, she just stopped. 鈥淚 had a nagging injury and it just wouldn鈥檛 go away. In my 17-year-old brain I thought, I guess I can鈥檛 do this anymore, so I will go聽be normal. Go back to school and live a normal life.鈥
She was happy enough in that life, and enjoyed her job running the esthetics department for a plastic surgeon, 鈥渂eauty guru stuff,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut the passion I have for skating is so much greater than I felt about the beauty industry.鈥
Stellato-Dudek retired from figure skating at 17.
SuppliedRemarkably, she didn鈥檛 lace up her skates once in those 16 years. 鈥淭he universe kept giving me signs,鈥 Stellato-Dudek said. She鈥檇 come across ice rinks in unlikely places, figure skater stickers on street signs. 鈥淚 ignored all of them.鈥
Then one day at a professional retreat, she picked up a game card that asked the question: What would you do if you couldn鈥檛 fail? She blurted out, 鈥淲in the Olympic gold medal.鈥 That was it. She set out to do exactly that.
Here鈥檚 where that reckless abandon came into play. 鈥淚 knew I would have to make a real leap, do this 110 per cent,鈥 she said. It eventually involved moving to Canada, to partner with Deschamps in 2019. Stellato-Dudek is in the process of applying for Canadian citizenship and is hoping it will be complete by 2026, so the pair can continue their domination of the category at the Winter Olympics, skating for Canada.
Stellato-Dudek feels there are advantages to skating at this stage of life, chief among them mental toughness. 鈥淲hen you are older, you hope, you are smarter, wiser and you realize the negative outcomes that can happen,鈥 she said. 鈥淵ou troubleshoot more as an adult; as a kid you just try stuff.鈥
Deanna Stellato-Dudek during her first skating spin, before retiring at 17 due to injury.
SuppliedLike, for instance, perilous overhead lifts, throws and jumps. 鈥淚 realized I was going to have fear going into certain elements,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 read a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt; she said to do something every day that scares you. Well, I was literally doing something scary every day as I was learning pairs skating.鈥 Stellato-Dudek made the decision not to allow any space for fear in her mind. 鈥淓very cell in my brain was thinking about the technical process to get the job done.鈥
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Oshawa.
Star StaffFigure skating also has an artistic aspect, and age has clear benefits here. 鈥淭o be a woman, to bring life experience of love and loss to the ice is a huge advantage compared to the 18- or 19-year-olds,鈥 said Stellato-Dudek, who got married in 2013. When you have lived through those things, 鈥渋t is easier to portray it on the ice.鈥
Physically, though, she trains much harder and longer than most younger skaters, to keep up. On training days, she gets to the ice an hour before going on the rink, and warms herself up. She and Deschamps, who is 32, work on their pairs elements off-ice first. Then they skate for three hours: in the summer they develop new moves and routines; during the season they do intensive run-throughs. That is followed by an hour in the gym together. Then, an important step: 鈥淢y cool-down process is close to three hours long, in order to prepare my body for the next day鈥檚 load.鈥
Stellato-Dudek enjoys some downtime with a canine friend.
Greg Kolz/Skate CanadaAt home, she focuses on fuelling her body with proper nutrition and hydration 鈥 as someone who is lifted overhead, she also has to maintain the same exact weight 鈥 plus further intense stretching. 鈥淎ll of that is encompassed in the kind of grit you have to have to do this through the 2026 Olympics,鈥 she said. 鈥淎s an older athlete, I have to be even more committed than my teenage counterparts. I owe it to myself, on the second chance on this dream, and I owe it to my partner to be ready to go each day.鈥
Athletes have begun pushing the age boundaries in sport more and more, often retiring and returning multiple times. Tom Brady famously stepped off the football field for good at 45. Stellato-Dudek was particularly inspired by UFC fighter Randy Couture, who retired at 47, and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired at 41. 鈥淚 thought, if they are out there getting beat up at that age, I can skate.鈥 She also cites Serena Williams鈥 return to tennis after motherhood, playing until she was 40. These are game-changing athletes, exceeding our expectations, and she has joined their ranks. 鈥淚鈥檓 honoured to be one of those people.鈥
Deanna Stellato-Dudek pictured with partner Maxime Deschamps after their big win in Montreal.
Danielle Earl/Skate CanadaMustering the courage to make a huge mid-career shift, pushing the edge physically and mentally, has to come from true passion, and Stellato-Dudek has it. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait to get on the ice every day,鈥 she said. Still, she was tested in the lead-up to the world championships in Montreal. 鈥淚t was intense pressure that we had been building up to for so long. To skate where Maxime was born, I really wanted to step up. But the cheering from the crowd helped so much. It really lifted us up.鈥
The rest of us watching felt it too.
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