She retired from the sport at age 17, but left her career as a medical aesthetician in 2016 and at age 40 has one goal in mind: compete for Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics
It’s one of several confident zingers that Deanna Stellato-Dudek delivers while sharing her fascinating story.
“I was super clear when I first put those skates back on,” Stellato-Dudek recalled to The Globe and Mail earlier this month. “I went in that first day with the intention of coming back and making the Olympics.” She has lots of supporters. Yet she notices naysayers, too, mainly on social media, with their biting critiques – those who don’t know her but assume a 40-year-old figure skater must have limitations.
Could she return to figure skating? Her teen years in the sport had taken place in a different time, when the 6.0 scoring system was still in use, during a heyday for women’s singles with stars such as Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya. On top of her world junior silver medal, Stellato-Dudek had won the ISU Junior Grand Prix final in the 1999-2000 season.
They competed together until early 2019, when Bartholomay got injured. Stellato-Dudek didn’t have seasons to wait while he recovered, so they separated amicably. She worried about finding a new partner because of her age. Stellato-Dudek moved to Montreal to train with him, and they researched both her getting Canadian citizenship and him becoming a U.S. citizen. The Canadian option sounded more promising so they began the process. She’s hoping for the Canadian passport before the 2026 Olympics.
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