MILAN — Figure skating is more than halfway done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with the pairs next to take the ice at the Milan Ice Skating Arena.
The U.S. has two teams competing on Sunday, Feb. 15: Team gold medalists Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, as well as Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan. Although Team USA boasts top contenders in nearly every figure skating discipline, it’s not necessarily the strongest in pairs. The Americans haven’t won a medal in pairs since 1988, and even though that’s drought is not expected to end here, there have been plenty of figure skating surprises throughout the Game.
USA TODAY Sports has live coverage of results and highlights for the pairs’ short program.
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Here are the running scores for the pairs’ short program.
- Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (Canada): 74.60 total segement score, 42.20 technical elements score, 32.40 program components score.
- Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (China): 72.66 total segement score, 39.28 technical elements score, 33.38 program components score.
- Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (United States): 71.06 total segement score, 39.00 technical elements score, 31.06 program components score.
- Anikka Hocke and Robert Kunkel (Germany): 67.52 total segement score, 37.72 technical elements score, 29.80 program components score.
- Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin (Armenia): 66.27 total segment score, 38.16 technical elements score, 28.11 program components score.
- Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby (Great Britain): 66.07 total segment score, 36.99 technical elements score, 29.08 program components score.
- Ioulia Chtchetinina and Michal Wozniak (Poland): 65.23 total segement score, 36.58 technical elements score, 28.65 program components score.
- Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev (France): 64.65 total segement score, 35.99 technical elements score, 28.66 program components score.
- Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba (Netherlands): 64.07 total segment score, 36.87 technical elements score, 27.20 program components score.
- Anastasiia Gloubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore (Austrialia): 60.69 total segment score, 32.85 technical elements score, 27.84 program components score.
- Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi (Japan): 59.62 total segment score, 31.46 technical elements score, 30.16 program components score.
Here is the remaining starting order.
- Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (Hungary)
- Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (Italy)
- Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (United States)
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (Canada)
- Anastasiia and Luka Berulava (Georgia)
- Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (Italy)
- Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan)
- Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (Germany)
Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe’s short program
What a much-needed start for the American pair. Chan and Howe made the Olympics because other candidates had citizenship issues, but they proved they belong on the stage in their debut.
The short program has been a struggle for them this season, especially at nationals. But no major problems this time. Chan had a slight stumble on the throw triple loop, but everything else was smooth.
They earned a score of 70.06, guaranteeing they will get to perform the free skate.
The U.S. pair who helped the Americans win gold in the team event take the ice for their short program at about 4:08 p.m. ET.
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Pairs figure skating vs. ice dance
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.
What is the 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.
The pairs skate their short program today, and wrap up with the free skate on Monday, Feb. 16.
The pairs’ short program airs on USA Network at 1:30 p.m. ET. It then switches to NBC beginning at 3 p.m. ET. The entire event is streaming on Peacock.
The women take the ice for the singles competition on Feb. 17 for the short program and Feb. 19 for the free skate, after which medals will be awarded.
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.
Figure skating jump types
- 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.
- Loop: The skater jumps off a back outside edge of their skate and lands on the same edge.
