Deanna Stellato-Dudek: 2000 Junior World Silver Medalist → 2024 World Champion
At the age of 40, Deanna Stellato-Dudek is the oldest woman to win a World Championships title in figure skating, with her pairs partner Maxime Deschamps for Canada. Deanna Stellato was the 1999 Junior Grand Prix Final Champion and 2000 Junior World Silver Medalist in the women's singles discipline. She retired from competitive skating in 2001, and returned as a pairs skater in 2016.
40 years is the new 20. That's what I'd like to say. [This record is] not something that I ever set out to do when I came back to skating, but I knew that if I were to accomplish my dreams, it would inevitably occur, because I'm the oldest everywhere. But it's something I carry with pride, and I'm very proud of it. I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer. I hope it encourages people to not stop before they reach their potential. And I hope it transcends into other areas, not just in sports, but also in other areas of life [...]
[My 15-year-old self] would say, why did we stop? We're still skating, you know, 25 years later? I think my younger self would think I'm crazy, so she wouldn't think much of it at all. And she wanted to win the 2006 Olympics [...]
-- 2024 World Championships Free Skate Press Conference
Deniss Vasiļjevs: The Lion King | FS debut at Worlds 2024
music: "The Rightful King" by Hans Zimmer, "He Lives in You" by Lebo M
performed by Kesha Shantrell and Matt Bloyd, cut by Matthias Versluis
choreography: Stéphane Lambiel
"This is the kind of skating that excites the skating community. No quads, but impassioned, something that ignites emotion in people. I feel inspired, it makes me want to skate!.." — Mark Hanretty's commentary.
i haven’t thought about figure skating in a year+ (i’m healed) but they’re playing the music to kosto twilight in this coffee shop and i’m having war flashbacks
hi maya! very happy for your recovery! but the way you called it "the music to kosto twilight" instead of just "twilight soundtrack". that's how you know you were in the trenches
"Look up! He's seen it! She acknowledges it with a wave. Thousands of people, hundreds of maple leaf flags, acknowledging that stunning free dance from Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha."