Hase & Volodin lead but the battle is on for gold in the Pairs Free Skating

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Minerva Hase & Nikita Volodin of Germany are in the lead following the Pairs Short Program with four and a half points to spare, but the real battle for the podium at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is to come in the Free Skating on Monday.

The competition at the Milano Ice Skating Arena will start at 20:00 local time.

Hase & Volodin (GER) on top after Short Program

Reigning ISU World silver medalists Minerva Hase & Nikita Volodin, pictured above, lead with a personal best after the Short Program. Can they seal the deal and bring Pairs gold back to Germany?
The 2026 ISU European Champions Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava are not far behind in second and can win Georgia’s first ever medal at the Olympic Winter Games.
Canadians Lia Pereira & Trennt Michaud surprisingly sit in podium position heading into the Free Skating.
Hot favorites and current ISU World Champions Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara want to make up for their error on the lift in the Short Program and take Japan’s first Olympic medal in Pair Skating.

Pre-event favorites Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) lie fifth but can still close the gap on the leaders in the Free Skate © Getty Images

The 2022 Olympic Champions Wenjing Sui & Cong Han (CHN) sit in sixth place and still can catch up.
Other top contenders include reigning ISU European bronze medalists Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) and two-time ISU World bronze medalists Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii (ITA).

Italians Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii, performing in front of their home crowd, lie eighth © Getty Images

Quick Facts

A total of 19 Pairs representing 14 NOCs are competed in the Short Program and the top 16 Pairs advanced to the Free Skating.
The highest score in the Pairs Free Skating currently is 157.46 points, achieved by Anastasia Mishina & Aleksandr Galliamov. Miura & Kihara set a new highest Pairs Free Skating score at Olympic Games in the Team event in Milan (155.55 points).
The highest total score in the Pairs is 239.88 points (Sui & Han at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022).
The 2022 Olympic Champions Wenjing Sui & Cong Han are the only returning medalists from the Beijing Games.
Aljona Savchenko & Bruno Massot struck gold in the Pairs event for Germany at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018.
Georgia has not yet won any medal at a Olympic Winter Games.

Can Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava hold onto their podium place and win Georgia's first ever Olympic Winter Games medal? © Getty Images

Japan and Italy have yet to win an Olympic medal in Pair Skating (individual event).
Hungary’s last Olympic medal in Pair Skating dates back to 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo when Marianna and Laszlo Nagy earned bronze.