Bureau (Rajeev Sharma): Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud claimed their first Canadian figure skating championship in dramatic fashion on Saturday, overturning a significant deficit to defeat reigning world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps.
The breakthrough moment came unexpectedly for the Canadian pair as they stood in the mixed zone, answering media questions, when a nearby screen displayed the final scores. Pereira and Michaud realised in real time that they had surged to the top of the standings, capturing gold for the first time in their partnership.
Pereira and Michaud delivered a powerful free skate, reviving their “Gladiator” routine from the 2023–24 season to score 135.03 points. The performance proved decisive, as errors in the free skate by Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps allowed Pereira and Michaud to erase a more than nine-point gap from the short program and win by a margin of 12.02 points.
The pair finished with a total score of 204.14. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps settled for silver, while Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Éthier secured the bronze medal.
The victory marked a major milestone for Pereira, 21, and Michaud, 29, who began skating together in August 2022. Michaud had teamed up with Pereira after the retirement of his former partner, Evelyn Walsh. From the early days of their partnership, Michaud had predicted they would one day become national champions—a belief that has now become reality after three and a half years of steady progress.
Despite the disappointment, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps remain Olympic-bound alongside Pereira and Michaud, with Canada set to send two pairs to the Milan-Cortina Winter Games. The veteran duo, who had led after the short program, struggled in the free skate, losing execution points on multiple elements, including two falls. Stellato-Dudek also revealed she had been battling a stomach illness in the days leading up to the competition.
Both pairs will now turn their focus toward regrouping and preparing for the Olympics, with Pereira and Michaud hoping their national title signals a new chapter in their ascent on the international stage.
