Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin on top in Olympic pairs short program

Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin finished the short program on top, after a controlled but masterful performance to “El Abrazo” by Maxime Rodriguez, receiving a personal best score of 80.01 points, far ahead of their competitors.

Behind them, Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava had a slightly tentative skate compared with recent outings but continued their breakout season, delivering the performance they needed, landing them in 2nd place, with 75.46 points heading into the free skate. Fresh off their European title, the duo showed their trademark speed and attack, and they remain firmly in the gold-medal conversation.

It was a thrilling result for the 2026 Canadian champions Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud, who gave an emotional performance skated to “Say You Love Me” by Jessie Ware. They earned a personal best score that put them ahead in the short program into 3rd place – continuing a breakthrough season for a team that have only skated together since 2022.

“After being pretty content with the short program in the team event, we still came out wanting more,” Pereira said after skating. “We’re very motivated people and we always want to put out our best. Today we did that, so it’s a really nice kind of full-circle moment to do that at the Olympics.”

In 4th, Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary posted a solid short program score, well-earned from a clean Olympic debut in an event in which many top contenders had inconsistencies. The 2026 European bronze medalists who placed 4th at 2024 World Championships skated a rousing program to “Without You” and leave day 1 of their event in contention — the difference between 2nd and 5th is just 2.35 points.

Unexpectedly rounding out the top five, Japan’s favorites for gold, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara skated their “Paint It, Black,” short program with a drastic error on their lift, leaving many points on the table. Overall, they showed a level of power, skating skills and unison that would typically be awarded with a top-level placement, however, they will have to fight to overtake Fabienne Hase and Volodin in tomorrow’s free skate. The two-time world champions were near-perfect on their side-by-side jumps and triple twist.

FULL RESULTS

Further down the results table, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, 42, achieved her Olympic dream, returning to competition following a 16-year retirement. It was unclear if the 2024 world champions would be in Milan Cortina despite qualifying, when they suffered injury in the days before leaving for Italy. However, the resilient three-time national champions made it to Olympic ice today. They gave a solid performance until a freak trip after a lift element, moments before the end of their program. The loss of points on the surprising error put them in 14th place, with 66.04 points. 

“We were really enjoying being out there, and that’s the most important thing,” Deschamps said shortly after getting off the ice. “I was proud of Deanna. We did great until that mistake that was extremely costly, but overall, we’re just proud of being able to skate and represent our country.”