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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t AP Photo\/Lee Jin-man – AP Photo\/Aurelien Morissard – AP Photo\/Charles Krupa<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27, 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Sharing](\"https:\/\/olympic.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/canadianolympiccommittee\/img\/team-canada-icons\/team-canada-profile-share-red.svg\")
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\u201cChemistry is very important on the ice, but also just the way you work together because there is the connection.\u201d
\u2013 Marjorie Lajoie\u00a0<\/p>\n
Creating the right pairing of athletes plays a huge part in what is possible to achieve in several winter Olympic sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there is something incredibly unique about the pairs and ice dance partnerships found in figure skating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These partnerships run much deeper than pairing two fast cross-country skiers for a team sprint or putting the strongest brakeman in the sled of the most capable bobsleigh pilot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After all, they\u2019re not just racing against a clock; they\u2019re being judged for the elements they execute as well as the artistry and connection they display in their performance. Their body types have to work well together to earn the highest levels of difficulty. And if you look at the rule book, \u201coneness\u201d and \u201cunison\u201d are right there in the criteria for the scoring of program components.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It takes time\u2014often years\u2014to develop the necessary chemistry and understanding of one another. If one partner is injured, the other half can\u2019t just find someone else to compete with.<\/p>\n
Essentially, there is no me, only a we.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what three of Canada\u2019s top figure skating duos\u2014each of which was created and developed differently\u2014had to say about why their partnerships are perfect for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha: The Childhood Partnership\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marjorie Lajoie<\/a> and Zachary Lagha <\/a>formed their partnership in 2011, making them a similar model to Tessa Virtue<\/a> and Scott Moir<\/a>, who had been skating together for 20 years by the time they became the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now in their mid-20s, Lajoie and Lagha have risen through the ranks together as junior national champions and junior world champions before becoming Olympians and staking out their spot as Canada\u2019s next stars on the international ice dance scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe usual question that we\u2019ve been asked is \u2018how do you manage the stress together?\u2019 and we always say \u2018we manage our own stress because we trust that the other person will do whatever it takes to do good on the ice, so we don\u2019t have to stress about the other person,\u201d said Lajoie when asked about how their trust has developed over the last 15 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[When] we started, we were 10 years old. We grew up together. So for sure the chemistry grows with it, with time and you learn so much about each other. And just because we were kids, teenagers, and then adults, we went through the whole life stage,\u201d she added about the basis for their deep trust in each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now as established senior skaters challenging for major international podiums, they easily define their identity as a team\u2014one that can perform to almost anything, from the campiness of Austin Powers to a classical instrumental.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[We\u2019re] an aggressive team that just goes and doesn\u2019t take their foot off the gas,\u201d said Lagha. \u201cAlso, [we\u2019re] a couple that can do different styles. I think it\u2019s a very good quality and the quality that I feel like we\u2019re losing more and more in this period of ice dance. A lot of people are going in their own style and then they kind of stay there, which is nice. But sometimes to try and challenge yourself to do different stuff is also interesting to do. And sometimes you have to take risks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What do they admire about each other?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMarjorie, I admire her good mood,\u201d said Lagha. \u201cShe\u2019s all the time ready to work and it\u2019s always light. And I can communicate what I want with her and she\u2019s not going to take it personally, so it makes working with her much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s always trying to evolve, get better,\u201d said Lajoie. \u201cHe\u2019s the one in the team that is doing the most overtime on the ice. He\u2019s the hardest working person that I know.\u201d<\/p>\n Deanna Stellato-Dudek & Maxime Deschamps: The Last Chance Partnership\u00a0<\/p>\n When Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps forged their pairs partnership in 2019, it was close to the last chance for both. Stellato-Dudek was 36, past the age most figure skaters would have retired. But she was embarking on a new partnership after having ended a 16-year retirement three years earlier. She became Deschamps\u2019 ninth partner after he had spent his career only getting a sniff of competing against the world\u2019s best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sometimes, finding a partner with whom chemistry can be created means crossing borders. Born and raised in the United States, Stellato-Dudek decided to join Deschamps in Montreal. She became a Canadian citizen in December 2024, the key to them becoming eligible to compete at the Olympic Games.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Trust] is something that developed with time. Obviously, the more you skate together, the more you\u2019re able to trust. You learn more from each other. This is how you\u2019re able to go through hurdles together, through those things that you have to overcome,\u201d said Deschamps. \u201cThen you can really push forward your limits.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first met Max and he picked me up for our tryout, he had this thick French Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois accent,\u201d said Stellato-Dudek. \u201cWe had a difficult time communicating in the beginning. I would ask him three or four times to repeat something and just be like \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t get it!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut now we know each other better and we know how to communicate,\u201d she continued. \u201cI\u2019m super creative. Max has more of an engineer brain. So he figures out how to make my ideas come to life. We know what the other one needs. And this is something that we are still having to be disciplined and work on.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are cognizant of that and we\u2019re always trying to practice and be better at that. And I think that\u2019s how we\u2019ve been able to progress every year, even if the results have not been the same, we\u2019ve always had progression every season.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also evolution as a person,\u201d added Deschamps. \u201cWhat she needed three years ago is not what she needs now. So we\u2019re evolving together and on the same path where we want to go, this is magical.\u201d<\/p>\n What do they admire about each other?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHer dedication, her discipline on a daily basis of everything she has to do,\u201d said Deschamps. \u201cShe\u2019s 42 years old, so what she has to do at that age to be able to skate and have that success and everything at that age is incredible\u2026 and this is something beyond what I was expecting from her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI admire a lot of things about Maxime, so it\u2019s kind of hard to pick just one,\u201d said Stellato-Dudek. \u201cMaxime is extremely intelligent. Like I said, he has very much an engineer brain and can figure out how to make these really cool ideas come to life. He also is very jovial and joking and positive, like, all of the time. And he can flip it, like on a dime. He can just flip himself and get into a positive mindset.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud: The Breakthrough Partnership\u00a0<\/p>\n When Trennt Michaud was searching for a new pairs partner in the summer of 2022, he didn\u2019t have to look very far\u2014just across the rink.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Marjorie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CP173848035.jpg\")
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha perform their rhythm dance at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., Saturday, January 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes<\/p>\n![\"Deanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251017_ISU_GP_Angers_JM_1971.jpg\")
Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps at the conclusion of their short program at Grand Prix de France on October 17, 2025 (International Skating Union) <\/p>\n
![\"Dressed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CP173849178.jpg\")
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud perform their pair\u2019s free program at the Canadian National Skating Championships in Laval, Que., Saturday, January 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Graham Hughes<\/p>\n