For US pairs skaters Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, the experience is a singular sensation
US pairs skaters Emily Chan (right) and Spencer Akira Howe placed ninth in the short program Sunday.Ashley Landis/Associated Press
“It was a bit of a sigh of relief,” Chan said, “and just excitement. Like, ‘We did it.’ We really went out there and we were together, and we experienced that whole entire program together. And I just felt on the top of the mountain.”
Chan, 28, and Howe, 29, will compete in the free skate Monday alongside one other American pair, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, who finished seventh. No American pair has won a medal in this event since 1988, and the United States has never won gold.
Get Starting Point
Skating to the song “Nyah” by CH2, the pair made it through their program with just one slight misstep — Chan’s hand briefly touched the ice on their third element, a throw triple loop, but they received no deductions.
“Getting out there just felt so good,” Howe said. “I felt so focused out there. And I know Emily did, too, because we were right there next to each other, trying to deliver these elements.”
It’s atypical for figure skaters to spend so much time in one place without competing. They arrived in Milan more than two weeks ago and this was their first competition of the Games.
Chan’s boyfriend, Estonian figure skater Aleksandr Selevko, also qualified to compete. Their families were able to meet for the first time, posing for photos on the top of the Duomo before the Games began.
Chan said her father and brother were in the audience watching her compete live for the first time in more than a decade. Howe’s parents, sister, and brother-in-law were watching, as were an aunt and cousin whom he hasn’t seen in quite a while.
“It’s been awesome to see all the support of our family and friends come here and cheer us on,” Howe said. “We’re so grateful.”
Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe of the United States compete during the pairs short program Sunday.Bernat Armangue/Associated Press
Along with Maxim Naumov, who finished 20th in the men’s singles competition, Howe and Chan are part of the largest contingent of skaters from the Skating Club of Boston to compete in the Olympics since 1992.
During the US championships, Howe and Chan got off to a rocky start, finishing eighth out of 10 pairs in the short program. Their rebound in the free skate — their best showing as a pair ever — put them into position to be at these Games.
“I think there’s a lot of stress going into that competition, because we’re trying to see if we’re going to be on the team,” Howe said about nationals. “And so once we found out that [we were on the team], we just said, ‘OK, let’s really focus.’ ”
Inside Chan’s Team USA jacket, she had printed a message: “Trust the process.”
It defines their partnership on the ice, which began seven years ago in Norwood. Through that time, Howe has battled shoulder injuries — he had a torn labrum repaired in May 2023 — and gone through Army basic training. Howe is part of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program and is the first figure skater to join and make an Olympic team.
They finished fifth in world championships in 2023 but tumbled to 12th in 2024, their first major competition back from Howe’s injury. In 2025, they finished fourth at the US championships that January, and Howe was at basic training a month later.
Howe and Chan didn’t get back on the ice together until June 2025, a rarity for teams pursuing an Olympic berth. Chan said the tighter timeframe forced them to come up with a better plan for training.
Safe to say, it has all paid off.
“We are communicating with each other not just verbally but also physically throughout that program,” Howe said Sunday. “And we were just really able to execute.”
The Patriots lose Super Bowl LX to the Seahawks in a beatdown by the Bay. Boston Globe Sports Report is live from San Francisco to break everything down.
Katie McInerney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram at @katiemac.sports.
