![\"\"](\"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Minerva-Fabienne-Hase-and-Nikita-Volodin-Ger-Olympics-26-SPMinerva-Fabienne-Hase-and-Nikita-Volodin-Ger-Olympics-26-SPMinerva-Fabienne-HASE-_-Nikita-VOLODIN-GER-Olympics-26-SPEXHB0278.jpg\")
<\/a>MILAN, ITALY\u00a0 – 2025 World silver medalists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin approached Sunday\u2019s Milano-Cortina Olympic pairs short program nonchalantly, and now the Germans are in position to claim the gold medal Monday at Milano Ice Skating Arena.<\/p>\n\u201cWe tried to be very calm with no big emotion because we want to save it for tomorrow,\u201d Hase said following her skate. \u201cI was thinking, \u2018Just don\u2019t make a mistake,\u2019 and I was able to control everything. We really wanted to make it like a practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 80.01 points they scored in the short program eclipsed their previous best short program of 77.61 from last year\u2019s Nebelhorn Trophy. Their “El Abrazo” short program was highlighted by a huge triple twist, along with side-by-side triple Salchow and a throw triple loop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a new feeling because to get the points, you have to skate a good performance,\u201d Volodin said of the score..<\/p>\n
“I am not satisfied completely because I did a mistake on an element that is one of my best ones,” Metelkina said through an interpreter, “I hope tomorrow I will do all my elements in full. I am happy that we adjusted, but mentally, it is tiring.\u201d<\/p>\n It may be a bit of a surprise to fans to see Canadian Champions Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada currently sitting in the bronze medal position. In their “Say You Love Me” short program, they completed a triple twist, side-by-side triple toe jumps and a throw triple loop that earned them a personal best score of 74.60. Skating in the middle warm-up group and skating ninth of\u00a0 19 teams, they held onto the lead until the last warm-up group. The team stressed that it was familiar with the spotlight after competing in the team event.<\/p>\n \u201cStepping out the first time at the Olympics is nerve wracking,\u201d the 21-year-old Pereira said. \u201cBut today, we felt like we had done this already. We knew exactly what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n 2026 European bronze medalists Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary sit in fourth place with a score of 73.87, while defending World champions and medal favorites in Milan Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara had an early exit on their five revolution Axel lift and lost 2.30 points in grade of execution. They earned a short program score of 73.11 and sit in fifth place. Reigning Olympic gold medalists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who came out of retirement and competed this season, had some issues with their side-by-side triple toes. They earned a short program score of 72.66 and are in sixth place. Sui and Han say they are content with their result in the short program.<\/p>\n<\/a>The reigning European Champions Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia lost points on their throw triple flip in their “Bolero” short program as Metelkina stepped out on the landing of the jump. They sit in second place with a score of 75.46.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n