Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin win the bronze medal in pair skating

After a simple salchow from Hase and a messy landing on the double axel from her, it was already clear during the performance that it would not be enough for the Olympic victory. Especially since the Japanese couple had put in a strong performance.

Riku Miura and Ruyichi Kihara, fifth after the short program, received a world record score of 158.13 for their free skate and had a total of 231.24 points. It was therefore clear that Hase and Volodin had to surpass themselves in order to keep the lead. The previous best value for the two was 221.38 points.

After the best short routine of their careers so far (80.01), the two Berliners went into their most important competition in first place. “I’m just happy that we reached 80 for the first time, that was a little dream of mine,” said Hase after part one of the Olympic program. In the freestyle, however, only 139.08 points were added.

Apparently they had still hoped for a higher rating from the jury, which would have pushed them out of the Georgian couple. But in the end, 2.66 points were missing for second place.

A little later the smile was back. The goal was an Olympic medal after almost four years of working together on the ice. And they wanted to hang this medal around their neck so much that they even stormed onto the podium a little too early. When they got there, they jumped and smiled exuberantly. They even happily waved to the audience again.

Since the fall of miracle runner Ilia Malinin, who fell twice in his free skate and was only able to partially demonstrate numerous elements, it has become clear to everyone once again how quickly things can go between absolute heights and total collapse in this sport. After placing first in the short program, he was passed through to eighth place.

Hase recently described the duo as “like an old married couple.” And you had the feeling that the two of them would deal with the less than perfect result very maturely together that evening. Even if the disappointment was perhaps bigger than it looked. Because whoever starts the free skate as the leading pair naturally wants to deliver top performance here too.

Rabbit and Volodin feel “like an old married couple”

Once again the two showed their harmony. “When they started working together, they were already a unit – they fit together really well as a couple. Nikita is a strong guy who can provide you with optimal support,” Savchenko said in an interview with Tagesspiegel before the games.

Hase has always been considered extremely talented. In the past, however, she was repeatedly set back by injuries. In addition, the full potential of the team with her former partner Nolan Seegert was never apparent. That changed with Volodin from St. Petersburg, who has had a German passport since August.

The appearance of Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel was also quite impressive. In the end, they finished tenth with a total of 194.11 points, setting a season’s best. After a very harmonious and error-free short program, there was still a lot of anger on Sunday about the rather low score of 67.52.

And you could see their defiance to show everyone again. After completing the program, they high-fived each other and beamed as they waited for the jury’s points. The total was 126.59 points, the highest this season. They didn’t look really happy, because once again the generally good feeling didn’t match the score.

ARD expert Daniel Weiss said: “That was an excellent freestyle. Again, disappointed faces for these points. I can understand that.”

Despite missing out on an Olympic victory, things ended up being completely different for Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin. They could hardly believe their luck.