MILAN — The 2026 Winter Olympics pairs figure skating champion is Japan. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara skated flawlessly, despite going into the night ranked fifth after the short program, to outdo the Georgians and Germans for the gold medal with a total score of 231.41.
Georgia pair Anatasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava won silver with a 221.75. And Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, who entered the night with a nearly five-point lead, took bronze with a 219.09.
Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, as well as Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan, had strong opening performances but stumbled in the free skate. Kam and O’Shea finished with a total score of 194.58 for ninth place. Chan and Akira Howe scored 200.31 and finished seventh.
Meet Team USA 2026: Get to know the athletes behind the games
Figure skating pairs final results
Here are the running scores for the pairs’ short program.
- Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan): 231.24 total, 158.13 free skate, 73.11 short program
- Anatasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (Georgia): 221.75 total, 146.29 free skate, 75.46 short program
- Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (Germany): 219.09 total, 139.09 free skate, 80.01 short program
- Maria Pavlova and Axeli Sviatchenko (Hungary): 215.26 total, 141.39 free skate, 73.87 short program
- Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (China): 208.64 total, 135.98 free skate, 72.66 short program
- Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (Italy): 203.19 total, 131.49 free skate, 71.70 short program
- Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (United States): 200.31 total, 130.25 free skate, 71.06 short program
- Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (Canada): 199.66 total, 125.06 free skate, 74.60 short program
- Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (United States): 194.58 total, 122.71 free skate, 71.87 short program
- Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel (Germany): 194.11 total, 126.59 free skate, 67.52 short program
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (Canada): 192.61 total, 126.57 free skate, 66.04 short program
- Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (Italy): 191.86 total, 122.78 free skate, 69.08 short program
- Ioulia Chtchetinina and Michal Wozniak (Poland): 185.86 total, 120.63 free skate, 65.23 short program
- Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin (Armenia): 180.66 total, 114.39 free skate, 66.27 short program
- Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby (Great Britain): 179.06 total, 112.99 free skate, 66.07 short program
- Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev (France): 178.43 total, 113.78 free skate, 64.65 short program
Team USA pairs knocked out of medal contention
Team USA fell short of reaching the podium at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Monday, Feb. 16. The teams of Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan, and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, were knocked off the podium before the competition ended.
The last time the U.S. won a medal in pairs remains 1988, when Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard won bronze in Calgary. The 38-year drought is the longest between medals for any figure skating discipline in U.S. Olympic history.
Read more about their performance from reporter Jordan Mendoza, who is at the Milano arena.
Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel wow in free skate
The early contender for performance of the night comes from the German team not in first entering the free skate, with Hocke and Kunkel executing a flawless routine.
Their program captivated the audience with some precise throws, with the cheers getting louder with each completed one. Then came the stunning pair combination with Hocke flowing through the air. They knew they were magnificent once it ended, and it led to a standing ovation.
The team earned a season-best score of 126.59.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek emotionally completes Olympic dream
At age 42, Deanna Stellato-Dudek has finally competed in the Olympics.
Once a singles performer for the U.S. who was retired for 15 years, Stellano-Dudek wanted to skate again, and went into pairs. After a few years with Nathan Bartholomay, she partnered with Canadian national Maxime Deschamps and chose to represent Canada.
They were the 2024 world champions and qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but almost didn’t make it after she suffered a head injury during training a few weeks before the games. They got close to withdrawing, but Stellato-Dudek got cleared in time to compete. She’s also garnered attention for her high-fashion looks on the ice designed by Oscar de la Renta.
The short program was marred by her fall, and while she had a stumble in the free skate, there were no deductions. When it was complete, Stellano-Dudek began to cry as several Canadian flags were raised from the audience.
Poland pair’s cute close
Poland’s Ioulia Chtchetinina dropped to the ice after finishing her free skate, with a big smile on her face that resembled disbelief and relief all at once. Her partner, Michal Wozniak, looked over and decided to join her, comically plopping onto his bottom and letting his legs pop into the air. The crowd applauded as they rose to their feet and embraced mid-ice before skating off to await their scores — 185.86 total, good for first place at the time. The pair skated second out of 16 pairs and will likely drop in the rankings, though they are guaranteed not to finish in last place.
US pairs figure skating Olympics 2026
Team USA has two pairs competing at the Olympics: Team gold medalists Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, as well as Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan.
Difference between ice dance and figure skating pairs
Ice dancing does not feature jumps or lifts, like you see figure skating pairs execute. Ice dancing is made up of two segments, the rhythm dance and the free dance. Pairs comprises a short program and free skate and features jumps, spins and lifts.
Death spiral in figure skating
Viewers’ ears likely perk when they hear a figure skating move has death in its name.
The death spiral is a pairs move in which typically the male skater pivots on the toe pick of one skate and moves the other while the woman skater extends her arm to hold her partner’s and circle around him, with her head nearly touching the ice.
There are four different types of death spirals: backward outside, backward inside, the forward outside and forward insides.
Figure skating jump types
Loop: The skater jumps off a back outside edge of their skate and lands on the same edge.
Toe jump: A skater drives the toe pick of their non-takeoff foot into the ice to launch themselves into the air and generate momentum into the jump.
Toe loop: A skater takes off backward and lands on the same back edge of their blade.
Lutz: A skater moving backward jumps off the back outside edge of their skate and uses the toe-pick of their other skate to catapult into the air in the opposite direction and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
Flip: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of the other skate.
Edge jump: A skater takes off not with their toe pick but off the edge of their skate.
Salchow: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of their other skate.
Axel: The only forward-facing jump, a skater lands on the back outside edge of their non-takeoff foot while traveling backward. The axel is the hardest jump because of the extra half-revolution that comes with a forward takeoff and a backward landing.
USA TODAY at the Milano Cortina Games
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The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics are off and running with 16 sports taking over 25 different venues. The games are exclusively airing across NBC’s suite of networks with many events airing live on its streaming service, Peacock, which you can sign up for here .
All times Eastern and accurate as of Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, at 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 16 Winter Olympics TV Schedule
- 1:00 AM – PRIMETIME IN MILAN (REPLAY) Speed Skating, Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, and more NBC, PEACOCK
- 1:15 AM – SKI JUMPING (REPLAY) (Medal Event) Women’s Large Hill USA NETWORK
- 2:00 AM – FIGURE SKATING (REPLAY) Pairs’ Short Program USA NETWORK
- 4:00 AM – ALPINE SKIING (LIVE) Men’s Slalom: Run 1 USA NETWORK, PEACOCK
- 4:50 AM – SNOWBOARDING (LIVE) Women’s Slopestyle Qualification USA NETWORK
- 6:35 AM – SHORT TRACK (LIVE) (Medal Event) Women’s 1000m Final USA NETWORK
- 7:00 AM – BOBSLED (REPLAY) Men’s Doubles: Heat 1 and 2 USA NETWORK
- 7:30 AM – ALPINE SKIING (LIVE) (Medal Event) Men’s Slalom: Run 2 Final USA NETWORK, PEACOCK
- 8:35 AM – SNOWBOARDING (LIVE) Men’s Slopestyle Qualification USA NETWORK
- 10:00 AM – SNOWBOARDING (REPLAY) Women’s Slopestyle Qualification NBC
- 10:15 AM – CURLING: China vs Canada (REPLAY) Women’s Preliminary Round USA NETWORK
- 10:40 AM – ICE HOCKEY: (LIVE) Women’s Semifinal #1 NBC, PEACOCK
- 11:30 AM – CURLING: Great Britain vs Norway (REPLAY) Men’s Preliminary Round USA NETWORK
- 12:45 PM – SHORT TRACK (LIVE) (Medal Event) M 500m Qual, W 1000m Final, M 1000m Semi USA NETWORK
- 1:00 PM – BOBSLED (LIVE) (Medal Event) Women’s Singles: Heat 3 and 4 Final NBC, PEACOCK
- 1:30 PM – FREESTYLE SKIING (LIVE) (Medal Event) Women’s Big Air Final NBC, PEACOCK
- 1:45 PM – FIGURE SKATING PREVIEW (LIVE) USA NETWORK
- 2:00 PM – FIGURE SKATING (LIVE) Pairs’ Free Skate USA NETWORK, PEACOCK
- 2:45 PM – ALPINE SKIING (REPLAY) (Medal Event) Men’s Slalom: Run 1 & 2 Final NBC
- 3:30 AM – BOBSLED (LIVE) (Medal Event) Women’s Singles: Heat 4 Final NBC, PEACOCK
- 3:55 PM – FIGURE SKATING (LIVE) Pairs’ Free Skate NBC
- 4:15 PM – ICE HOCKEY: (REPLAY) Women’s Semifinal USA NETWORK
- 5:00 PM – CURLING: United States vs Italy (REPLAY) Women’s Preliminary Round CNBC
- 5:30 PM – BOBSLED (REPLAY) Men’s Doubles: Heat 1 and 2 USA NETWORK
- 6:00 PM – ICE HOCKEY: (REPLAY) Women’s Semifinal USA NETWORK
- 8:00 PM – PRIMETIME IN MILAN (REPLAY) Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Bobsled, and more NBC, PEACOCK
- 8:00 PM – ICE HOCKEY: (REPLAY) Women’s Semifinal USA NETWORK
- 10:00 PM – SNOWBOARDING (REPLAY) Women’s Slopestyle Qualification USA NETWORK
- 10:30 PM – SNOWBOARDING (REPLAY) Men’s Slopestyle Qualification USA NETWORK
- 11:00 PM – SKI JUMPING (REPLAY) (Medal Event) Men’s Super Team USA NETWORK
- 11:35 PM – OLYMPIC LATE NIGHT (REPLAY) Snowboarding and more NBC, PEACOCK
Feb. 16 Winter Olympics Streaming Schedule
Sign up for Peacock here
- 3:05 AM – CURLING: China vs Canada (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 3:05 AM – CURLING: Denmark vs Great Britain (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 3:05 AM – CURLING: Sweden vs Switzerland (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 4:00 AM – BOBSLED (LIVE) Men’s Doubles: Heat 1 and 2 PEACOCK
- 4:30 AM – SNOWBOARDING (LIVE) Women’s Slopestyle Qualification PEACOCK
- 5:00 AM – SHORT TRACK (LIVE) Men’s 500m Qualification PEACOCK
- 5:00 AM – SHORT TRACK (LIVE) Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinals PEACOCK
- 5:00 AM – SHORT TRACK (LIVE) (Medal Event) Women’s 1000m Prelims, Final PEACOCK
- 8:00 AM – GOLD ZONE: DAY 10 (LIVE) Digital Exclusive PEACOCK
- 8:00 AM – SNOWBOARDING (LIVE) Men’s Slopestyle Qualification PEACOCK
- 8:05 AM – CURLING: Italy vs China (LIVE) Men’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 8:05 AM – CURLING: Great Britain vs Norway (LIVE) Men’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 8:05 AM – CURLING: Sweden vs Germany (LIVE) Men’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 8:05 AM – CURLING: Czechia vs Canada (LIVE) Men’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 1:00 PM – SKI JUMPING (LIVE) (Medal Event) Men’s Super Team PEACOCK
- 1:05 PM – CURLING: South Korea vs China (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 1:05 PM – CURLING: United States vs Italy (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 1:05 PM – CURLING: Switzerland vs Great Britain (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 1:05 PM – CURLING: Japan vs Canada (LIVE) Women’s Preliminary Round PEACOCK
- 3:10 PM – ICE HOCKEY: (LIVE) Women’s Semifinal #2 PEACOCK
More 2026 Winter Olympics
See the full Milano Cortina Games schedule
See the 2026 Medal Count Here