A Veteran’s Golden Comeback Leads the Way as Japan Holds Singles Dominance: 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships

By Bailey Li

[Shanghai, February 2024]

The 2024 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, held at Shanghai’s Oriental

Sports Center, blended tradition with new narratives.
Japan maintained its stronghold in singles

skating, but the most memorable storyline belonged to Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek, whose

golden triumph at the age of 40 reminded the skating world that persistence and experience can

stand alongside youth.

Pairs: A 40-Year-Old’s Dream Fulfilled

The pairs competition delivered the most inspiring chapter of the event. Deanna Stellato-Dudek /

Maxime Deschamps entered the free skate trailing Japan’s defending champions Riku Miura /

Ryuichi Kihara after a second-place short program (69.34 points). But their composed and

technically precise free skate, worth 129.46 points, brought their total to 198.80 points, just

enough to overturn the Japanese pair’s 197.63 points (SP 72.77 + FS 124.86). The U.S. duo Ellie

Kam / Danny O’Shea delivered a personal-best free skate of 126.56 points and claimed their first

Four Continents medal with a total of 187.28 points.

Stellato-Dudek’s road to this gold stretched across decades. Once a promising U.S. junior singles

skater, she left the sport due to injury and only returned in her 30s as a pairs competitor for

Canada. In a 2023 interview with Olympics.com, she said, “You can change careers in your 30s,

40s, 50s.” Later that year she added, “Being older and smarter helps me make quicker

corrections and be more disciplined about taking care of my body.” In Shanghai, those

reflections were no longer words but proof, as she stood on the podium as a champion — a living

testament that age is not the limit to ambition.

Men’s Singles: High-Risk Era Demands Stability

Japan reaffirmed its depth in men’s skating. Yuma Kagiyama captured the title with a

commanding 307.58 points (SP 105.51 + FS 202.07), showcasing two clean quadruple jumps

and a wellexecuted triple Axel in his free skate. His teammate Shun Sato earned silver with

274.59 points (SP 92.61 + FS 181.98), delivering strong quads but lacking Kagiyama’s

precision. Korea’s Junhwan Cha scored 272.95 points (SP 94.27 + FS 178.68) for bronze; his

elegant performance and high program component scores narrowed the gap, but a shaky landing

on one quad in the free skate cost him valuable points.

The men’s event once again demonstrated that in an era where quadruple jumps are routine, the

title goes not only to the most daring but to the most consistent.

Women’s Singles: Stability Prevails over Risk

The women’s competition turned into a contest between reliable execution and technical

ambition. Japan’s Mone Chiba claimed her first Four Continents crown with 214.98 points (SP

71.10 + FS 143.88), skating clean programs without attempting ultraC elements like the triple

Axel. Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim, known for her calm delivery, followed with 204.68 points (SP

69.77 + FS 134.91), her silver secured despite a minor slip in the late stages of the free skate.

The technical spotlight fell on Japan’s Rinka Watanabe, the only woman in the field to attempt a

3A. She opened her free skate with the jump but received a negative GOE on the landing, which,

combined with slightly lower program component scores, left her in third place with 202.17

points (SP 67.22 + FS 134.95).

This outcome underlined a long-standing truth in women’s skating: while higher-difficulty

elements can raise the ceiling, stability remains the decisive factor for victory.

Ice Dance: Details Make the Difference

The ice dance final offered a North American showdown decided by razor-thin margins.

Canada’s Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier secured gold with a total of 214.36 points, narrowly

surpassing the reigning U.S. Olympic champions Madison Chock / Evan Bates, who scored

212.96 points. In the rhythm dance (RD), the Americans held a slim lead, 87.79 to 87.52. But in

the free dance (FD), Gilles / Poirier displayed cleaner execution and stronger interpretation,

earning 126.84 points, which edged past the Americans’ 125.17 points. The Canadian pair’s

advantage came from steadier step sequences and lifts that left no room for deductions, while

Chock / Bates saw slight GOE reductions on a key lift that tipped the balance. The U.S. duo

Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko rounded out the podium with 200.11 points,

confirming the depth of American ice dance.

In a discipline where top teams often match each other in base difficulty, the Shanghai final

highlighted that precision and composure in every element can outweigh even the smallest lead

in difficulty.

Beyond the Scores: Tradition Meets Fresh Stories

The 2024 Four Continents Championships celebrated both continuity and change. Japan’s

consistent excellence in singles reinforced its longstanding status as a skating powerhouse.

Kim’s silver medal signaled the arrival of a new generation of challengers. Kam and O’Shea’s

bronze represented a breakthrough for a fresh U.S. pair. Above all, Stellato-Dudek’s triumph

offered a human story that transcended the technical sheets the fulfillment of a dream deferred

for more than two decades.

With enthusiastic crowds and seamless organization, Shanghai once again demonstrated Asia’s

capacity to host world-class figure skating. The competition left fans with more than numbers: it

offered proof that in a sport measured in points and judged in artistry, resilience and heart still

shine through.