2026 Olympics | Figure Skating | Pairs’ Free Skate

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara soared from fifth place to claim Japan’s first Olympic gold in Pairs’ figure skating in Milan, Italy. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava earned the silver, also making history by becoming the first athletes from Georgia to win a Winter Olympic medal. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin slipped to third after their overnight lead to settle for bronze.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara

Miura and Kihara delivered a powerful, sweeping performance to music from Gladiator and Gladiator II, taking first in this segment with a new personal best of 158.13 points. The crowd in Milan roared on every element which included a side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence and triple Salchows. Both the throw triple Lutz and throw triple loop were solid, and they picked up a level four on all lifts, the death spiral, and pair spin. The two-time and current World champions earned positive grades of execution (GOE) throughout, and with a total score of 231.24, moved to the top of the podium with nearly 10 points to spare.

“I honestly have nothing but words of gratitude,” said Kihara. “Yesterday, we thought a comeback was still possible. The encouragement of those words helped me turn my mindset forward. I’m truly thankful to everyone.”

Kihara admitted to being emotional after a fifth-place finish in the short program the day before.

“I was so frustrated, I couldn’t sleep last night,” he said. “I didn’t have a very good quality of sleep. I couldn’t stop my tears since I arrived at the rink, even at practice, from warm-up. It was a feeling I didn’t understand, something I never experienced before. But the messages I got from people, and our coach, lifted me up again. Then I was able to sleep and switch my mindset. This is the place where we fight. There’s no way we could give up at these Olympics. We told ourselves we would absolutely attack until the very end. I had been crying since morning, but unlike me, Riku was really strong today. Before the competition, I reset mentally and told the team I was okay.”

“In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to be this strong,” said Miura. “It’s because of all the work we built together, and the support he’s given me through every competition, that I was able to become strong at this event.”

When asked what they said to each other while hugging after the performance, Miura said, “Well… First of all, Ryuichi was basically crying the whole time.”

“I was crying, but it wasn’t the whole time,” he countered.

“He was crying even during the warm-up, quite a lot,” said Miura. “He was crying during the free program, too. When I asked, ‘What are you crying about?’ during practice, he said, ‘I don’t even know why I’m crying anymore. So I said, ‘You’re like a baby.'”

“Everyone was worried at the practice,” he said.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava

Metelkina and Berulava powered through every element in their lyrical free skate to “Le discours d’Arthur” and “Keeping Me Alive.” Metelkina stepped out of the throw triple loop, but the team landed a side-by-side triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel sequence and triple toes. The three-time European medalists also produced a throw triple flip and earned a level four on all three lifts, placing second 146.29 points. With a total score of 221.75, they maintained second place overall, edging the Germans out for silver.

“At the end of the performance, we were just so relieved,” said Berulava. “It was a huge relief because we fulfilled this mission. We did everything. We skated four programs, and now we can relax a little bit.”

“I really wanted to go out and skate as soon as possible because it’s really difficult,” added Metelkina. “This was our first experience where we had to stay in shape for such a long time after the team event. That’s mentally hard because you cannot really relax. And since we skated four programs, we feel a little bit tired. At the end, I was just happy that we were done, that we finished on a high note, that we left everything out there on the ice and have no regrets.”

“It is a huge honor, and I am incredibly happy that our names are now written as the first Georgians to win a medal at the Olympic Winter Games,” said Berulava. “It’s a huge honor! It was a long path for us, and we are unbelievably happy about it.”

Metelkina also thanked the Georgian Figure Skating Federation.

“I think the Georgian Federation truly deserves this medal because they created all the conditions for us to be able to skate and win medals,” she said.

“I hope that after us, a big team will develop in Georgia—that we will have second, third, and fourth pairs, and that there will be competition inside the country,” said Berulava. “After the end of my career, I want to take care of this, because I love figure skating and I want to do everything to develop pair skating in Georgia.”

Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin

Overnight leaders Hase and Volodin navigated their ethereal free skate to Memoryhouse amid two costly mistakes. Hase underrotated and put a foot down on the back end of the side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence before popping her triple Salchow. However, the throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow were spot on. All lifts and the spin were graded a level three, and the earned many high GOEs throughout. The 2025 World silver medalists scored 139.08 for the free skate and slipped to fourth place overall with 219.09 points.

“We are simply very relieved that it was enough for the bronze medal,” said Hase. “No matter what color the medal is, we are just very proud that we were able to take a medal home from our first Olympic Games together after only three years of skating together. I don’t think many people can say that about themselves. So the pride in our performance today is definitely bigger than anything else.”

Hase added that she wasn’t 100 percent satisfied due to the mistakes she made.

“Still, I am very proud of us for finding our way back into the program after the Salchow, for not losing the program, but fighting for every single point until the very end,” she said. “I think that helped us a lot to still make it onto the podium.”

“It was definitely a new feeling to skate last at such an event,” added Volodin. “But we will take this experience with us into the future; simply how it has to work and how to do it better.”

Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko

Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary delivered a flawless free skate to “Without You” which featured a clean side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence and triple Salchows. The throw triple flip and throw triple loop were also solid, and the 2026 European bronze medalists earned a level four on all three lifts, the triple twist, and pair spin. They placed third in the free skate and fourth overall with new personal best scores (141.39/ 215.26).

“It was our best performance so far this season,” noted Pavlova. “It was perfect; we couldn’t have done better today or yesterday. We’re very happy with what we achieved and what we showed out there on the ice.  We worked so hard this season, and we knew we could go out there and do our best.”

The team admitted to feeling nervous about skating in the final flight.

“We didn’t expect to get there even yesterday, so it was a surprise for us,” said Pavlova. “But we knew we could do it. When we stepped on the ice and took our first pose of the program, we looked into each other’s eyes, and we knew we could do it. I think from that moment the nerves went away.”

The last time a Hungarian Pairs team medaled at the Winter Olympics was in 1956 when the brother-and-sister team of Marianna Nagy and László Nagy took the bronze. They were also the bronze medal winners in 1952.

“We’re very proud because a lot of people from Hungary are supporting us,” said Pavlova. “Yesterday I got a lot of messages from Hungarian fans, and it made us feel very proud. I think they’re proud of us for what we achieved out there, and we hope that more people will start figure skating in Hungary and that there will be more pairs for sure.”

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China earned a season’s best of 135.98 after their evocative free skate to music from A Tapestry of a Legendary Land. Sui popped her first jump on the side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, but the team landed an excellent throw triple flip, earning high GOEs across the board. They also produced a solid throw triple Salchow, three level-four lifts, a triple twist, and pair spin. With a total score of 208.64, the 2022 Olympic gold champions rose one spot to fifth place overall.

“For me, I really enjoyed this competition and focused on my performance,” said Sui.

“I agree,” said Han. “It’s a very memorable experience to stand on the Olympic ice in Milano. We are satisfied because we have already been Olympic champions before, and this time we only had a very short period to prepare. I think just being able to stand here and be satisfied with our performance is already a win.”

“Half a month before Beijing, I didn’t even know if I would be able to skate because of my surgery,” he added. “And today, we were able to finish a beautiful program quite well.”

“We have practiced together for almost 20 years,” summed up Sui. “We have each other, we worked together, and we shared so many things in our lives. We believe we will be friends for life. I’m also very happy about my partner.”

Both skaters confirmed that this was their very last performance together on the ice.

On future plans, Sui said: “Actually, I want to travel with my pet and drive around in a mobile home and sell coffee.”

Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii

Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii gave away technical points in their elegant to free skate to “Caruso” and “Occhi Verdi.” Conti, who is battling a knee injury, stepped out of the side-by-side triple toe-double Axel sequence, but the triple Salchows were clean. She also put hand down on the throw triple loop and stepped out of the throw triple Salchow. While the lifts and pair spin were graded a level four, the mistakes were costly. The two-time World bronze medalists finished sixth place (131.49) in this segment, but maintained sixth place overall with a total score of 203.19.

“We will remember this for a lifetime,” said Macii of their Olympic debut on home ice. “We had the biggest emotions here at this event.”

Macii shared that they were both very down after their eighth-place finish in the short program the day before.

“It was the same problem today,” he said. “We were trying to gain points back. While we were solid, we were not secure. We were confident and knew where we were supposed to be. It felt like running back and recovering. We gained two positions, so we’re happy about that. We also went over 200 points. We will definitely remember it for a lifetime. In life you experience great happiness and great sadness, ups and downs. These two weeks were exactly like that. And maybe the next days will feel more flat. But here, we felt everything. We really felt at home. And I’m really proud of my partner. We had a great journey to get here. And now, we will look to the future.”

Both skaters are looking forward to resting and enjoying what they achieved.

“Right now, we are talking about this competition, but we haven’t really thought about the medal we won a week ago,” said Conti. “We didn’t get to celebrate it, because we had the second competition. And I want to go back and enjoy this. Because this was our first Olympic Games. We have a medal, but sometimes it still feels like, ‘Okay, we have a medal.’ It’s not so easy to process. I want to go home and tell myself I’m proud of what we did.”

They are still undecided about competing at the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships next month.

Emily Chan and Spencer Howe

USA’s Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe picked up a new season’s best of 130.25 with their heartfelt free skate to music from Ghost: The Musical for seventh place. They opened with a triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel sequence, but then Chan went down on the triple Salchows. She also a foot down on the throw triple loop, but hung on to the throw triple flip. The two-time Four Continents silver medalists were rewarded with a level four on all three lifts, the triple twist, and pair spin, and earned another season’s best in the total score (200.31) to finish seventh overall.

When asked about their conversations before or after a performance, Chan said: “We like to feel grounded before we skate. Spencer kind of leads that ritual that we both do. We also usually say a prayer before we go out.”

“There was so much pressure on trying to get to the Games,” said Howe. “And here, now that we made it, it’s that pressure of being able to skate great performances in front of such a large crowd. We worked so hard to get to this stage. And once you make it, your brain doesn’t know how to process that. It’s hard to explain. We just felt grateful to be here and to be able to skate as well as we did. It’s a huge blessing for us.”

Rounding out the field

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada, who sat in third after the short, finished 10th (125.06) in the free skate. Pereira stepped out of the throw triple loop, while Michaud took a fall on the triple Salchows. However, the triple twist, two lifts, and the pair spin were graded a level four. With a total score of 199.66, the 2025 Four Continents bronze medalists slipped to eighth overall.

“We wanted to do what we did yesterday,” said Michaud. “We did some really good things. I thought we handled it well. We felt good and comfortable out there.”

“We always focus on what we can control,” added Pereira. “We know that we have the quality. Over the years, we built up the levels. We have everything that we need to be where we want to be. Yesterday, we controlled what we could. We were proud of our short program, even before we got the scores. I think we did a good job. I actually felt the most comfortable I’ve felt today.”

The national champs said they will be having a “real conversation” on their plans for the future.

“These Olympic Games were the goal when we started our partnership,” said Pereira. “So we haven’t really had a chance to talk.”

USA’s Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea suffered two falls in their free skate to place ninth overall (194.58). Despite the mistakes, the 2024 Four Continents bronze medalists still displayed strong level-four lifts, pair spin and triple twist in their routine to music by Cinematic Pop.

“It’s definitely a bit of a mixed bag of emotions,” said Kam. “I’m a little disappointed. I wish that I could have held out a little bit longer for another clean skate. I feel like we’ve built so much great momentum here at this competition. Every single time we’ve stepped out on the ice, it felt more comfortable. We had some great practices this morning. We had an even better six-minute warm-up. I felt like we were really ready to leave it all out there. We definitely did leave it all out there, just not in the way that I had thought that it was going to go. But I’m still so proud of everything that we’ve done here. I feel like all the work that we put in at home has carried through to this competition. We’re really excited to keep pushing until the world’s next month.”

“It is a lot of fun, honestly,” added O’Shea. “I love skating. And skating on Olympic ice is literally a dream coming true. This whole time that we’ve been here has been an amazing experience. It’s definitely one where we’re feeling a little tired by the end of it. But we’re very proud of the whole body of work that we put out across the time that we’ve been here. And some programs were really, really good. If we could put like one long and one short together, I think we’d be super happy.”

The skaters plan to take each season one at a time.

“We will sit down with our coach and have a meeting after worlds and figure out what the future holds,” said O’Shea. “We’ll figure it out soon. We actually haven’t even discussed it with each other. We’re trying to focus on one thing at a time.”

Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel of Germany took a season’s best of 126.59 after their crowd-pleasing free skate to “I’d Do Anything for Love” by Meatloaf. The two-time Grand Prix medalists landed solid side-by-side triple Salchows, a throw triple flip and throw triple loop. Kunkel put a foot down on the double Axel-Axel-double Axel sequence, but all lifts and the spin were graded a level four. The team also received a one-point deduction for a time violation and placed 10th overall (194.11).

“It’s always a bit hard when the moment feels slightly taken away,” said Hocke regarding the scores. And I think we have to keep reminding ourselves that we gave everything. The only unnecessary thing was the time deduction. But otherwise, today couldn’t have gone better for us. With that feeling and with the crowd—half of them standing—you can’t be anything but satisfied.”

“If you think about the injury and the comeback from it, it feels so far away that you can’t even imagine how I was doing half a year ago,” added Kunkel. “I wasn’t even able to manage on my own. And now we’ve delivered a free skate like that. If it had only been some knee pain or back pain, that would be one thing. But I couldn’t shower alone, brush my teeth, eat, or get dressed by myself. And now to skate a free program like this… it feels like another life.”

“I’m just happy that we can be here,” said Hocke. “In our hearts, ever since the injury, we knew we were capable of this. And as bad as the injury was, it brought us even closer together and gave us even more strength. You can only learn from something like that.”

Hocke and Kunkel plan to compete at Worlds next month. Then they will have five weeks of military training before planning for next season.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada, who stood in 14th after the short program, placed ninth (126.57) in the free skate. Their routine to selections by Vicente Amigo was highlighted by a level-four triple twist, throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow. All lifts were graded a level four, and the only error came when Stellato-Dudek stepped out of the first jump in the side-by-side triple toe-double Axel sequence. The 2024 World Champions moved up to 11th place (192.61) overall.

“We lost two weeks of training leading up to this,” said Stellato-Dudek. “We had to make some strategic decisions going into the free program. But the way that we held that together after not doing a run-through for two weeks is pretty amazing. I joke with Maxim that he literally and figuratively always carries me through when I’m having a hard time, and he did not disappoint tonight.”

“We were just happy to be out there skating together,” said Deschamps. “We felt comfortable going into our programs, both yesterday and today. We were just enjoying ourselves. Yes, we had a mistake yesterday, but overall, we’re still proud of ourselves, considering the last two weeks of big emotions.”

Their future will be determined after Stellato-Dudek sees her doctors after returning home.

“We’re going to make a decision based on what they tell me,” she said. “It depends on what they say. This was kind of a special circumstance; the Olympics are once every four years. Everyone who read my story would say, ‘Oh goodness, we really want to be able to send her off.’ But every year is different, depending on what they tell me. I’m going to do whatever they say for the betterment of my health.”

“I think the only limits you have are the ones that you set on yourself,” she summed up. “Even though everybody loves to try to put limits on me because I’m 42. I don’t believe in any of that. Only I can put limits on myself. So, I might see you again in four years. I’m the oldest one, just breaking all the records every time.”

On whether he wants to keep going, Deschamps said: “I don’t know, I’ll have to check.”

“It’s another four years,” said Stellato-Dudek. “He didn’t have a 16-year vacation as I did.”

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