Pairs, Mixed

The pairs figure skating event at Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games was held on 15-16 February at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. It featured 38 athletes (17 pairs) from 14 nations.

Looking to capture Japan’s first-ever pairs Olympic title were four-time World Championship medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (2023 and 2025 gold, 2022 and 2024 silver), and twice Olympic silver medalists in the team event (2022, 2026). Outside shots at the medals were the reigning Olympic champions from Beijing 2022, 2018 silver medalists and five-time World Championship medalists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who unretired for the 2025-26 Olympic season; and 2024 World Champions, 42-year-old Deanna Stellato-Dudek, who returned to the sport at age 33 after a 16-year hiatus and Maxime Deschamps of Canada, who had an inconsistent season, with Stellato-Dudek just cleared medically from a concussion that caused them to miss the team event.

The short program produced an early surprise when world champions Miura/Kihara (JPN), skating to “Paint It Black,” made a costly mistake on their Group 5 Axel lift. The error dropped them to fifth place, 6.90 points off the lead, and Kihara (JPN) was visibly upset afterward and took responsibility for the mistake. Germany’s Minerva Hase, a 2022 Olympian and Nikita Volodin, fresh off their team event pairs bronze, skated flawlessly in their Olympic début together, and took a surprising lead with a personal best of 80.01 points. Making her Olympic début, Georgia’s Anastasiyia Metelkina, skating with Luka Berulava (ninth at Beijing 2022 with Karina Safina), finished second in the short program with a score of 75.46 points. Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud found themselves in a surprising third (74.60 points). Another surprise came when Canadians Stellato-Dudek (the third-oldest female figure skater in Winter Olympic history)/Deschamps, suffered a fluke fall during a lift - one of their strongest elements - leaving them in 14th after the short program.

Heading into the free skate, the difference between second and fifth was just 2.35 points. Miura/Kihara were not in the final flight of skaters, skating last in the penultimate group, but thanks to a high level of technical content for their “Gladiator” free skate, and a clean skate, they set a world record of 158.13 points to earn their nation’s first Olympic title in pairs, with a combined points total of 231.24 points. Despite a shaky landing on their throw triple loop in the free skate, Metelkina/Berulava held on to their second-place position after the short program to claim silver, scoring 146.29 points in the free skate for a total of 221.75 points. The medal was the first of any kind for Georgia in an Olympic Winter Games since it débuted at Lillehammer 1994, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Germany’s Hase/Volodin, leading after the short program, had mistakes on several elements in the free skate and finished in fourth (139.08 points), but it was enough to stay on the podium with 219.09 combined points and a bronze medal.

Considered one of the most accomplished and resilient pairs teams in history, two-time World Champions (2017, 2019) and three-time World silver medalists (2015, 2016, 2021) Sui/Han delivered a season-best free skate to finish fifth overall with 208.64 points in their final Olympic appearance, overcoming injuries and limited preparation time.