2026 Olympics: Pairs' Short Program

[lileychristie]

I just caught up with the first 3 pairs - I thought Anastasiia & Hektor had a terrible skate scoring only 60, but turns out it was just the double twist & unsynchronised spins making them not qualify Sad to see, since their SBS and throw were solid.

So gutted for them, considering how hard it was for them to get here.... I hope they'll have another go in 2030

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Zhang/Huang are a clearly inferior team to Sui/Han.

Wow. You are quite dismissive of the team that made it possible for Sui/ Han to compete at the 2026 Olympics! Such an 'inferior' team Zhang/ Huang were while winning the Beijing qualifier for their teammates' benefit, since Sui/Han were in no shape to qualify the spot themselves.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I just caught up with the first 3 pairs - I thought Anastasiia & Hektor had a terrible skate scoring only 60, but turns out it was just the double twist & unsynchronised spins making them not qualify Sad to see, since their SBS and throw were solid.

So gutted for them, considering how hard it was for them to get here.... I hope they'll have another go in 2030

They look a lot better than they did at 4CCs. But clearly, they haven't had enough training time to be in top competitive shape to add back their 3-twist. Still, they can say they are Olympians and enjoy the rest of the Games. I'm sure they knew it was a longshot to make the ridiculous cut-off.

 

[Blades of Passion]

It's simply not true that Sui has better arm movements than every other pair girl during her era, or currently.

Yes it is. This isn't even close. She is by far the best.

Such an 'inferior' team Zhang/ Huang were while winning the Beijing qualifier for their teammates' benefit

So? This happens literally every year, across the entire world. Teams constantly shift. The people who get the qualifying spots for a given country are not guaranteed a trip to Worlds/Olympics.

If you can't see that Sui/Han are better than Zhang/Huang, then yikes.

Also, the reason Zhang/Huang don't get to go to the Olympics is the disgusting ISU age rule, which made them unable to compete at Worlds last year and thus unable to earn 2 spots for China. Or also the rule that Olympic spots are decided by the results at Worlds the previous year.

 

[museksk8r]

Multiple of the judges agreed with me.

No, they didn’t. S/H were ranked 5th in TES, 5th in PCS, 6th in BV, and 6th in GOE. https://skatingscores.com/2526/oly/sr/pairs/short/

 

[yfan1]

Yes it is. This isn't even close. She is by far the best.

Peng Cheng came closer to Sui than anyone in her era, yet she never actually equalled Sui.

I do wish China will produce Pair skaters of the same quality soon. Even someone of the level of Peng will be a blessing to the discipline.

 

[Blades of Passion]

No, they didn’t. https://skatingscores.com/2526/oly/sr/pairs/short/

Yes they did. You either can't read or don't know how to look at a data sheet.

Sui/Han received a top 4 placement from multiple judges and 2nd in PCS from the Australian judge.

 

[Ruthypegs]

The pair broke up because she started doing self harm due to the coach. O’Shea supported her fully through her decision.

I'm a big fan of Danny - he's a very supportive partner on the ice, as well as being an excellent pairs skater with beautiful lines.

 

[Karoltyna]

Exactly. Berulava was not nice to his former partner, Karina Safina, and that's putting it lightly. A lot of people aren't aware of his behavior toward Safina and few people bring it up, which is interesting since he was visibly and vocally dismissive of her. Speaking of the 'power imbalance' between males and females in figure skating...

Metelkina appears to be more ambitious and tough. She is also apparently fearless about being held in the air with a less than sure-footed partner beneath her.

At first it looked she will be another Safina, but it seems she was masking her personality. Now it's obvious she is the stronger in the partnership, both in skating skills and in personality. Good for her I suppose, but I can't stop thinking where she would be with partner that matches her.

 

[lariko]

Karina Safina. Huge injury. He was displeased when she was slowly coming back. Metelkina was skating with Parkman. So there were two teams representing Georgia back then. They were suddenly split up, Safina vanished/retired and Parkman went to the USA. It was big news all over this forum on how apparently careless he was with Karina Safina. Now,I wasn't following them that much because they were very young... but I am sure you can find out for yourself. Other fans may know more and/or correct me if my already vague memory about this is flawed.

Yes, i know, but he didn't drop her during competition for everyone to watch like O'Shea, and that commentator keeps doomsaying that Berulava will -- and only Berulava, even though that's 3 skate in a row in Oly where they didn't have any mishaps on lifts (I saw them miss lifts before) and it was other pairs who made mistakes on lifts here. She says it during the live skate. In teams even before they went into the lifts. I want her to stop doing it during the skate. Before lifts. During lifts. With everyone else she waits till the end, like is proper. But with Berulava she's just drip-dripping it like that snake drips posion on Loki's face, creating nerve-wracking experience. Like she wants him to drop Metelkina. Like it's some necessary part of Olympic experience we are gonna get. Now, if Berulava drops Metelkina, I would say that commentator jinxed him and she will gloat in the told-you-so way. I am not some big fan of Metelkina/Berulava and want F/M and P/S place ahead of them, but I don't want Metelkina to fall like that O'Shea's partner. I want Ted and Mark back as commentators. Tran'kov or KMT. Heck, I will take Chris at this point, and even Americans. Americans spending M/B skate wistfully reminiscing about Tara Lipinski back in 1892 is better than 'he is a bad lifter/just watch his feet' repeated many times in different snide ways. I don't have some weird reverse Berulava foot fetish. I don't need to develop it.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

I have a theory, which may be worth the Rink Monster Theory, that is, very serious.
In East Asia (China, Japan, Korea and maybe farther) the digit 4 is roughly associated with death.
Now, just before the start of the Games, the Olympic Youtube Channel video of Yuzuru Hanyu's Free Skate at 2018 Olympic Games, reached 44 million views. It's the most viewed of all Figure Skating videos on this channel, and the second most viewed of their Sports videos. It has since reached 45 million, but yesterday it's the video of Aljona Savchenko's and Bruno Massot's Free Skate at the same Olympic Games which entered in the 44 million views...
Could it be that a video entering the 44 million views "jinxes" all predictions on this site?
Irrespective of the actual merits of Pairs teams, should I believe in my theory and should I wish to bet, I'd reconsider my predictions...

 

[4everchan]

I have a theory, which may be worth the Rink Monster Theory, that is, very serious.
In East Asia (China, Japan, Korea and maybe farther) the digit 4 is roughly associated with death.
Now, just before the start of the Games, the Olympic Youtube Channel video of Yuzuru Hanyu's Free Skate at 2018 Olympic Games, reached 44 million views. It's the most viewed of all Figure Skating videos on this channel, and the second most viewed of their Sports videos. It has since reached 45 million, but yesterday it's the video of Aljona Savchenko's and Bruno Massot's Free Skate at the same Olympic Games which entered in the 44 million views...
Could it be that a video entering the 44 million views "jinxes" all predictions on this site?
Irrespective of the actual merits of Pairs teams, should I believe in my theory and should I wish to bet, I'd reconsider my predictions...

just watch the video 1 million times today and it will be fine for all of us.

 

[Cindy1983]

Congrats to both our pair teams (US) for rising to the occasion.

 

[slider11]

Congratulations to the German's for having a strong performance! I am confused why the Georgians second mark was 1.5 points higher than the Canadians. The Canadians' skating skills, choreo and performance were superior to the Georgians, imo. Also, a bit confused why Kam/O'Shea were dinged so badly on their spin. I can see Danny was not centered and travelled but -2, -3 seemed harsh.

 

[TontoK]

Exactly. Berulava was not nice to his former partner, Karina Safina, and that's putting it lightly. A lot of people aren't aware of his behavior toward Safina and few people bring it up, which is interesting since he was visibly and vocally dismissive of her. Speaking of the 'power imbalance' between males and females in figure skating...

Metelkina appears to be more ambitious and tough. She is also apparently fearless about being held in the air with a less than sure-footed partner beneath her.

I'm sorry, but you're behind the times.

Figure skating fans no longer care about abusive behavior in the sport. I mean, sure, we SAY we do, but we really don't.

An axe murderer could skate at the Olympics, and a sizeable contingent would argue he was lowballed in PCS.

 

[gsk8]

Hi all!

You can compare, analyze, critique, go more in depth, discuss future, etc. in the Olympic Pairs Competition Replay Lounge!