Canadians Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps win pairs gold at Skate Canada | CBC Sports

Canadian pair Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are champions again at the Skate Canada International figure skating event.

The reigning world champions posted a total score of 197.33 after skating to their underwater-themed free program Saturday night at Scotiabank Centre.

After building an 8.41-point cushion after the short program on Friday, Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps posted 124.10 — the second-best score of the free skate — to capture Skate Canada gold for the second straight year.

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

Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps, an improbable match when they teamed up in 2019, won the world title in Montreal last March.

WATCH | Stellato-Dudek, Deschamps repeat at Skate Canada:

The 41-year-old Stellato-Dudek won world junior silver in 2000 before retiring at 17 due to a chronic hip injury. The Chicago native returned to the sport 16 years later as a pairs skater and later moved across the border to join forces with Deschamps.

Deschamps, a 32-year-old from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., cycled through eight partners with limited success before finding Stellato-Dudek.

They won silver at the Nebelhorn Trophy Challenger event in September to kick off the season. Next up, they’ll compete in their second Grand Prix at the Finlandia Trophy from Nov. 15-17.

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

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

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

WATCH | Gilles and Poirier sit in top stop after rhythm dance at Skate Canada:

Gilles and Poirier sit in top stop after rhythm dance at Skate Canada

Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier scored 86.44 in the rhythm dance competition and sit in first place Saturday at Skate Canada.

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).

Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev finished fifth with 82.70 after a solid skate. Aleksa Rakic, from Burnaby, B.C., placed ninth and Roman Sadovsky, from Vaughan, Ont., was last in the 12-skater field.

WATCH: Malinin sets the pace in men’s event: 

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

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

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

Later Saturday, Madeline Schizas, from Oakville, Ont., was set to skate in the women’s free program after placing fifth in the short.

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

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

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

You can also watch more figure skating coverage on CBC Sports Presents, our weekly show spotlighting the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world. Hosted by Brenda Irving, who is joined by Kurt Browning and Carol Lane, the show can be streamed on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.