Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot GER
2018 Olympics free skate
From the moment I watched this free skate in its infancy at Nebelhorn Trophy, I knew that it was going to be something monumental.
And the circumstances under which Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot delivered it at the Olympics made the entire occasion all the more memorable.
I mean, it was so good I almost died.
We knew the story well. Aljona Savchenko in her fifth Olympics, with her third partner - at 34 years old - comes in chasing a medal she’s never won before, the Olympic gold. Bruno Massot in his first Olympics, with his fourth partner, had transformed from a middling pair skater into one of the best in the business. They were trying to win Olympic gold in a season when pair skating had never been stronger.
And so when a tentative short program shocked them to their core - and knocked them down to fourth - they could have overthought the whole thing altogether and imploded in the free skate.
Instead, what transpired during the 4 1/2 minutes they were on the ice was the most magnificent pairs free skate in history. It was only appropriate that at the end of this Christopher Dean-choreographed program, their impromptu celebration would resemble the ending of one of the best free dances in history, Torvill/Dean’s Bolero.
Seamless. Effortless. Peerless. Savchenko/Massot.