HELSINKI - Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps led after Friday's pairs short program at the Finlandia Trophy, the fifth stop on the Grand Prix figure skating circuit.
Stellato-Dudek, who is from Chicago but is in the process of acquiring Canadian citizenship, and Deschamps, from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., scored 75.89 points for their routine set to a remix of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love."
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy were second with 67.43 points, followed by Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary (61.29).
Kelly Ann Laurin of Saint-Jérôme, Que., and Loucas Ethier of Saint-Eustache, Que., were fourth with 60.45 points.
The free skate is scheduled for Sunday.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps are the reigning pairs world champions and are coming off a victory at the Skate Canada Grand Prix last month in Halifax.
This report by Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÒÅÆ×ÊÁÏ was first published Nov. 15, 2024.