MONTREAL — At 40 years old, Deanna Stellato-Dudek skates and twirls across the ice at full speed in front of thousands. She gets tossed high in the air by her partner, Maxime Deschamps, before landing in his arms and resuming their routine.
Thursday night, in the fifth decade of her life, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps won the pairs competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships for Canada, making her the oldest female figure skater to win an Olympics or world championship. The crowd at the Bell Center roared, many waving Canadian flags as the pair finished their free skate and the reality of what was about to happen became clear.
