The incredible comeback story of 42-year-old figure skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek

There might be no story more awe-inspiring at Milano Cortina 2026 than that of Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a 42-year-old figure skater who left the sport for 16 years - only to return, and then win a world title. The Chicago native, who now competes for Canada, is the subject of a new Olympic Channel documentary called Deanna's Dream , which is available to stream for free now on Olympics.com . "This story is way bigger than me," Stellato tells host Nick McCarvel in the latest episode of the podcast, which dives deep into Deanna's journey and the documentary surrounding it. "It's about all women at any age of life who feel like they want to change something and make something more of themselves." "I always think that my age provides me with a power," she adds, before laughing: "The only thing is that I have to put more work than my 20-year-old counterparts into just showing up the next morning." Stellato-Dudek and partner Maxime Deschamps are competing this week (9-11 January) at the Canadian Championships, where the duo is aiming for a fourth consecutive national title - and a berth to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. You can stream Deanna's Dream on Olympics.com now - for free.

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The incredible comeback story of 42-year-old figure skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek is an episode from Olympic Channel Podcast by Olympics.com.

This episode is 00:40:25 long.

This episode was published on Jan 8, 2026.

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