What Ellie Kam, Danny O’Shea felt receiving Olympic gold
“It’s that moment of, like, I did that,” American figure skater Danny O’Shea said in an interview with Ellie Kam after the pair won a gold medal in a team event.
Editor’s note: Follow Olympics figure skating live results and updates from 2026 Winter Games.
MILAN — Despite a strong showing, the U.S. medal drought in pairs figure skating continues.
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.
Neither pair was expected to be contending for a medal, but they both came out with a bang in the short program, including Kam and O’Shea riding the momentum of their team event gold to earn a season-best score.
That placed them within striking distance going into the free skate. Kam and O’Shea were in seventh place – less than three points out of third – while Chan and Howe were less than five points back in ninth place.
Chan and Howe were the first U.S. pair to go in what was their strongest part of the competition, and the score reflected it. Despite Chan falling early in the program, they powered right through the deduction and executed everything the rest of the way. The pair got a season-best score of 130.25 for a total score of 200.31.
Unfortunately for Kam and O’Shea, they weren’t able to replicate the magic from the team event. Kam had back-to-back falls early in program that spoiled the momentum, earning a score of 122.71 for a final tally of 194.58.
Still, it’s a promising outing that continues the upward trajectory in the U.S. When Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished fifth in the 2022 Winter Olympics, it was the first top five finish for Team USA since 2002. Coupled with the eighth-place finish from Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, it was the first time the U.S. had two top-10 pairs since 1998.
Now, with both teams guaranteed to finish in the top 10, it’s the first time the U.S. has had it happen in back-to-back Winter Olympics since 1998 and 2002. Instead of regressing, the pairs are trending.
Team USA has had so-so performances in figure skating ever since it won team gold to kick off the festivities in Milano Cortina, not winning first place since. Madison Chock and Evan Bates controversially settled for silver in the ice dance, and Ilia Malinin’s stunning collapse in the men’s resulted in no medal.
Now the final group to go will be the women, which will feature the “Blade Angels” in Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito. They are all medal contenders, with the chance to win gold, something Team USA needs since it was the favorites in three of the four disciplines.
