Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford CAN
2018 Olympics free skate
Four years ago, Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford went into their first Olympics with the expectations of World medalists the season before. They left Sochi with a silver in team but a full-on disappointment in the individual event.
Last season, they went into PyeongChang facing a whole lot of uncertainty on the heels of a topsy-turvy previous season. After winning Worlds both seasons after the Sochi Olympics, they went through a phase of inconsistency in the pre-Olympic season and didn’t even get on the podium in 2017.
Their Olympic season wasn’t anywhere near smooth sailing either, but there was a drastic change in their attitude after they won Skate Canada. They were realistic in their chances, and they came to terms with the fact that two clean skates could still land them off the podium at the Olympics because of the change in the pairs landscape. And when it came to game time, Duhamel/Radford were focused - not on the podium, but on skating the best way they knew how.
So perhaps it was appropriately mirroring that they finished 3rd at the 2013 Worlds and then 7th at the 2014 Olympics, and this time around it was 7th at the 2017 Worlds and then 3rd at the 2018 Olympics.
With their team gold in PyeongChang, they now have a complete set of gold, silver, and bronze from the Olympics. But this individual bronze medal has to be the most satisfying one of them all.