Canadians Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps win pairs gold at Skate Canada

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are back-to-back Skate Canada International champions, but they're not smiling about it.

Not after the numerous mistakes they made in the free skate on Saturday.

“It certainly wasn’t easy tonight,” said Deschamps. “Things were going well at home, but it’s going to happen sometimes.”

It started with Deschamps falling on a triple toe loop to set up a sequence early in the routine, then later in the program Stellato-Dudek failed a throw that was awarded the day's second-best score (124.10). .

The Canadian pair finished the race at the Scotiabank Center with a total score of 197.33, well below the 221.56 they had targeted to win gold at the world championships in Montreal last March.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Stellato-Dudek said. “I've done so many clean runs of this program at home, so I really have no idea why this happened tonight.”

“We came here prepared. Performance was not an indication of how our training went. Right now we have to figure out why it happened.”

VIEW | Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps repeat at Skate Canada:

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps claim second straight doubles title at Skate Canada International

World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada win the pairs competition at Skate Canada International for the second year in a row.

Looking for reasons for the blemishes, Stellato-Dudek wondered if Deschamps' fall had upset her.

“After he fell, I almost said something because I thought: What? “What was that?” Stellato-Dudek said. “His fall shocked me a little because it’s not normal.”

Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev of Uzbekistan took second place (189.65) and Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore of Australia were third (186.14).

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps were an unlikely match when they came together in 2019.

Stellato-Dudek, 41, a Chicago native who just gained Canadian citizenship, retired at 17 but returned to the sport 16 years later as a pair skater. Deschamps, a 32-year-old from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., went through eight partners with limited success before finding Stellato-Dudek.

Now they are world champions and have their sights set on gold at the 2026 Olympics.

This year you are not only fighting against the competition, but also against the pressure that comes with it.

The timeless skaters talk to sports psychologists and get tips from people who have been in their shoes before. This includes Eric Radford, a two-time world pairs champion with his partner Meagan Duhamel.

“Eric said in the summer that this (the World Cup) is ours forever,” Deschamps said. “New season and let’s attack. Don’t defend anything – just attack.”

So how will they recover after a difficult night?

“You just have to forget it, move on, but learn from it,” Deschamps said.

“For me, the first reaction is just extreme disappointment and sadness,” Stellato-Dudek added. “Then I get really, really angry and do things until I never miss them again.”

Sakamoto wins the women's event

Meanwhile, Canada's Madeline Schizas was beaming about her fifth place finish in the women's race.

The 21-year-old from Oakville, Ont., scored 190.04 points – her highest international score in more than two years – and cried tears of joy at center ice after back-to-back strong performances.

“I didn’t really cry. I’m not really a crier,” Schizas said. “I was just happy. I showed some good skating in practice, but I had such a hard time transferring that to competition.”

It was almost enough to win a medal. Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto won gold with 201.21 ahead of Rino Matsuike (192.16) and Hana Yoshida (191.37) and Japan took the podium.

Schizas had a disappointing end to last season with an 18th place finish at the World Championships. This weekend she presented a cheerful, almost flawless short program of “The Lion King.”

The two-time national champion then followed up with a solid freestyle to the intense “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saëns.

“I just came into this weekend with a fiery attitude and that really helped me do my best,” she said. “That would have put me in the top 10 in the world and then some.”

“I also feel good going into the Canadian competition and selection for the second half of the season knowing that I now have a score that puts me in the top 10 in the world.”

VIEW | Sakamoto takes gold in the women's event:

Japan's Kaori Sakamoto takes the women's title at Skate Canada International

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan wins the women's competition at Skate Canada International with a total score of 201.21.

Earlier on Saturday, Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took the lead after the rhythm dance.

Gilles, of Toronto, and Poirier, of Unionville, Ont., scored 86.44 points for their Beach Boys-themed show with Barbie and Ken costumes.

Canadians Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., took second place with 77.34 points, followed by Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France with 76.76. Alicia Fabbri of Laval, Que., and Paul Ayer of Calgary are tied for ninth with 70.10 points.

VIEW | Gilles and Poirier sit on top after rhythm dance at Skate Canada:

Gilles and Poirier sit in the lead after the rhythm dance at Skate Canada

Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier scored 86.44 points in the rhythm dance competition to take first place at Skate Canada on Saturday.

Reigning world champion Ilia Malinin of the United States leads the men's short program with 106.22, well ahead of Japanese skaters Shun Sato (96.52) and Sota Yamamoto (92.16).

Stephen Gogolev of Toronto took fifth place with 82.70 after a solid run. Aleksa Rakic ​​of Burnaby, B.C., finished ninth and Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ontario, finished last in the field of 12 runners.

WATCH: Malinin sets the pace in the men's race:

American Ilia Malinin leads after the men's short program at Skate Canada

Ilia Malinin of the United States is in first place after the men's short program at Skate Canada International with a score of 106.22.

The men's free dance and long program are scheduled for Sunday.

The Grand Prix, the top series in figure skating, consists of six competitions and a final. Skate Canada is the second event this year after the event began last week at Skate America.

Alicia Fabbri of Laval, Que., and Paul Ayer of Calgary are tied for ninth with 70.10 points.

Live streaming coverage of the event continues Sunday at 10:45 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

You can also check out more figure skating coverage here CBC Sports Presentsour weekly show that spotlights the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world. Hosted by Brenda Irving and joined by Kurt Browning and Carol Lane, the show is available to stream on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.