Canadian figure skating pair emerge as surprise Olympic medal threats
Canada will have a shot at an Olympic medal in the figure skating pairs event, but it’s not who everybody expected.
Heading into the competition, it was widely believed that the pair of Deanna Dudek-Stellato and Maxime Deschamps would be Canada’s best bet at getting on the podium. Yet, the duo stumbled in their short program performance, placing a lowly 14th in the standings and all but ending their medal hopes in the event.
In their stead, the Canadian duo of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud dazzled on the ice. The pair scored an incredible 74.60 in the short program, which was good enough to put them in third place heading into Monday’s free skate.
It was a new personal best for the Canadians, who have been skating together since 2022.
That's a new personal best for Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud👏 pic.twitter.com/MhhInpbj3Z
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 15, 2026
The only pairs with a better score in the short program were Germans Fabienne Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin (80.01), and the Georgian duo of Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (75.46).
They did finish ahead of the reigning Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong from China (72.66).
This puts Pereira and Michaud in an excellent position to challenge for a spot on the Olympic podium, but nothing is guaranteed. They will need to put together another magnificent performance in the free skate to hold their ground.
Pereira and Michaud are skating in their first Olympic Games together and were not expected to be serious medal contenders heading into the competition. After a strong opening, that has changed.
Canada has gotten on the podium once during this year’s figure skating program, with Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier snagging a bronze in ice dance last week.
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Canada’s last Olympic medal in the pairs event came back at PyeongChang 2018, when Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford captured bronze. You’d have to go back to Salt Lake 2002 for Canada’s last gold medal, when Jamie Salé and David Pelletier stood atop the podium.
The free skate is set to go on Monday at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST.