There’s a reason why China saved the pairs event for last at these Olympic Winter Games. Traditionally the slot saved for the marquee event - which has often been the women’s competition - it’s now been slotted for pairs, China’s powerhouse event in figure skating. Six of the eight Olympic medals that China has won in figure skating has come from pairs (the other two were won by Chen Lu), and China has hopes for Olympic gold in the name of Wenjing Sui/Cong Han.
2022 Winter Olympics predictions
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GOLD Wenjing Sui/Cong Han CHN - The two-time World champions are looking to move up a step on the podium after their silver in PyeongChang four years ago - and if they do it, it will be thanks to their secret weapon, the quad twist. They know that Mishina/Galliamov win out on the side-by-side jumps department, and so it was important for them to make up that base value differential in a different way. The quad twist is how they close the gap. But perhaps the biggest differentiator will be their motivation skating in their home Olympics.
SILVER Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov ROC - The World champs had a close call with a scary fall on their final lift in the Team Event, and they are shaking that off in their quest for Olympic gold. You wonder how much that fall - and the fact that they narrowly lost the short program to Sui/Han in the Team Event - is fresh in their minds. Either way, get ready for a great battle for gold ahead.
BRONZE Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov ROC - Fourth four years ago in PyeongChang, Tarasova/Morozov are still the class of the ROC pairs when it comes to foundational skating. Their issue has very much been their inconsistency, which has popped up in every competition this season. If they go clean in both programs, they are as much of a gold medal favorite as anyone here.
4. Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii ROC - Speaking of inconsistencies, Boikova/Kozlovskii just hasn’t had the greatest time putting together flawless competitions. Oftentimes, you feel like their programs are a bit of a minefield as they try to avoid mistakes that have taken them somewhat out of the running among the Russian pairs. At their best, they are podium contenders, but they will need to put themselves in a good position starting with the shrot program
5. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara JPN - How absolutely remarkable would it be to have a Japanese pair team be in the top five at the Olympics? Given the country’s history on focus on singles skating, this would potentially provide such a boon to pair skating in Japan. Miura/Kihara have already impressed all season, and they were once again spectacular in the Team Event, becoming the missing link that helped Team Japan finally get onto the Team Event podium. They have an outside, outside shot at the podium, but a top five finish here would be phenomenal.
6. Cheng Peng/Yang Jin CHN - Often underrated in components, Peng/Jin sometimes suffer from not being as flashy or clean as the top teams that are above them. They’ve got great potential for a top five finish, but will need to be good on their side-by-sides, which have traditionally been the big issue for them in competition.
7. Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier USA - A spectacular short program in the Team Event has this pair looking at the potential of a top five finish. And they have all the goods to pull that off, but their free skate has been something of an obstacle for them - and even though it’s usually not huge errors, the mistakes that they made in the Team Event add up. Two clean skates will put them in top five contention.
8. Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc USA - Two days before the short program, Cain-Gribble took a hard fall in practice and has been resting up her right leg. So a large part of how competitive they will be for a top 10 or even a top 8 spot in Beijing will depend on how she feels come competition time. That injury was very unfortunate in timing because they have been practicing very well during their time here.
9. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro CAN - It’s been a trying season for the three-time Canadian champs - consistency has been tough to find for them. But they managed to figure it out when it counted the most at Canadian Nationals and come into Beijing off the memories of those two skates. Their Team Event short program was solid but not spectacular, and they will need to do better to win out in this battle among the North American pairs.
10. Vanessa James/Eric Radford CAN - After a shaky fall season, James/Radford feel like they are finally rounding out into form and, more importantly, into synchronization. Though they are perhaps skating more cautiously than they did earlier in the season, they have gotten more together as a pair. They will need to avoid some of those timing errors that they’ve had this season.
Top 11-16 predictions
11. Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini ITA
12. Karina Safina/Luka Berulava GEO
13. Laura Barquero/Marco Zandron ESP
14. Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer AUT
15. Ioulia Chtchetinina/Mark Magyar HUN
16. Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert GER