By Xiangxuan Kong
Beijing – China, Japan, and Armenia secured the three pairs’ quota spots at Skate to Milano on September 20 at the National Indoor Stadium.
Chinese pair Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang entered the free skate in the lead after the short program. Apart from Huang missing the side-by-side triple Salchow, Zhang/Huang skated mostly clean to Coldplay’s O, earning 124.84 for their free skate and 191.52 overall. “We made a mistake at the beginning of the program, but we were able to put it behind us and move on. We did our best and showed what we’ve achieved in training,” said Huang.
The pressure to secure a pairs’ quota for China was high for Zhang/Huang, as China had won Olympic gold medals in pairs in 2010 and 2022. “It was stressful to be the last to skate on home ice, but the support from the audience helped us. Their cheers really motivated us when we felt tired,” said Zhang. When she stepped off the ice, Zhang was in tears and hugged coach Yang Ding tightly. “We’ve worked so hard in training, and I was just excited and happy with how we did today,” she said.
With several pairs teams in China, it remains unclear whether Zhang/Huang will represent the country at Milano Cortina next February. “As athletes, our job is to focus on training and show what we can do in competition. If we go to the Olympics, we want to perform two clean programs for the audience,” commented Huang.
Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin rose to second place after their free skate with an overall score of 186.84, making them the first Armenian pair skaters to qualify for the Winter Olympics in 23 years. Akopova was emotional after her skate: “I cried happy tears because we did all the elements today. We worked hard between seasons and showed an almost perfect skate. All the hard work paid off.”
The Armenian pair skated to Slumdog Millionaire, a movie Akopova enjoyed with her mother as a child, though it took some persuasion for the team to agree on the music. “We had lots of fun (with the program) on ice, but I was very nervous before,” said Akopova. “I was having panic attacks at the hotel and warm-up area. After I get on the ice, I fell from a triple twist and I was like ‘Oh good morning, wake up, it’s time to work.’ But once I was on the ice, I wasn’t nervous.”
Bronze medalists Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi were fourth after the short program, just 1.23 points behind Akopova and Rakhmanin, keeping a ticket to Milano Cortina within reach. After skating to Tree of Life Suite, Nagaoka and Moriguchi watched nervously from the mixed zone as the Armenian and French teams took the ice. They jumped into a tearful hug when their overall score of 178.66 placed them temporarily in first, with only two more teams left to skate.“We were nervous as we need to fight off the pressure on our shoulders. Now we finally got rid of the regret from (the 2025 World Championships) and successfully got a ticket to the Olympic Games,” said Moriguchi at the press conference.
The French team Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev had ranked second after the short program, but a fall on a triple toe loop–double toe loop combination by Camille Kovalev dropped them to fourth, with 171.58 overall.“We knew we had to skate clean (to qualify),” said Camille Kovalev, “When the mistake happened, my mind went “probably it’s done, like ‘I need to fight until end but it will be really hard and small chance’.” It’s still possible for the French husband and wife pair to compete at Milano Cortina in the team event, but as the couple remarked, “It’s not the same and it’s not what we wanted. It’s the team that qualified for us and we also wanted to find our place and show that we’re part of the team.”
Despite the disappointment, the Kovalevs took positives from the experience. “We had a very hard last season and now it’s like coming back mentally and technically. We will continue to work hard for the team event (at the Olympics).”
Ukrainian pair Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi skated to Mad World and earned a personal-best 169.41, placing fifth. “We felt tired and relieved after the competition.” The pair looked forward to exploring Beijing, something they had missed in 2022 due to quarantine restrictions.
In sixth place were Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy of Team USA. The American pair scored 158.66 and were overall pleased with their free skate. “Honestly, I felt a lot better today,” said Shin. “This is only our second international competition this season and obviously this is another experience in our pocket now.” Shin and Nagy plan to work on their consistency and continue developing their elements and program component scores. Their next assignment will be the Grand Prix de France in October
