Winter Olympics 2026: Germany’s Hase/Volodin Grab Figure Skating Pairs Short Program Lead with Personal Best as Japan’s Miura/Kihara Disappoint
Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin significantly raised the stakes at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games by claiming the top position in the figure skating pairs short program. Their remarkable performance on Sunday, February 15, saw them set a personal best score of 80.01, putting them five points clear of their nearest rivals.
The competition was fierce, as the reigning European champions, Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava from Georgia, took second place with 75.46, while Canada’s duo of Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud sat comfortably in third with a score of 74.60.
In a surprising turn of events, Japan’s gold-medal favorites, Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi, encountered difficulties, commencing their Olympic journey in fifth with a score of 73.11. The duo’s misstep during a lift ultimately hampered their chances to contest for the podium, forcing them to evaluate their strategy moving into the free skating segment.
The Italian fans showed great support for home crowd favorites Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii; the pair secured eighth with a score of 71.70, while 42-year-old debutante Deanna Stellato-Dudek made headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons, as she and her partner Maxime Deschamps struggled to perform with a score of 66.04.
The competition kicked off an enticing Olympic showcase, as Beijing 2022 gold medallists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong from China faced challenges too, placing sixth with 72.66 after Sui had an accidental fall on their opening jump.
As 16 of the 19 competing pairs have qualified for Monday’s free skating, audiences and fans eagerly await what promises to be a thrilling finale in Milano Cortina. The journey to figure skating supremacy continues!
