# This Week in Skating / 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics - Pairs' Free Skate Recap

An episode of [This Week in Skating Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1621874792), 17 Feb 2026, 37 min.

Audio: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/a8b48a19-6fe7-44c3-9168-74267ac2e84b/stream.mp3

In this episode, Matteo and Gina discuss the Olympic pairs' event in Milan, and look ahead to the women's short program. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Jo.
[0:01] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Kathy Reed.
[0:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I'm Allison Reed.
[0:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi, I'm Ashley.
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi, I'm Grace.
[0:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're from the Hidden X.
[0:25] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Welcome to this week in Skating, the weekly podcast bringing you the latest news from the world of figure skating.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Here are your hosts, Daphne, Gina, and Matteo.
[0:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, hello and welcome to another edition of our podcast from The Olympics.
[0:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Mateo is still in Milan and I am still not in Milan, but we are coming to a close.
[0:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have one more event to go.
[0:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We will kick off today the women's short program and then there's a day off and then the women's free skate is on Thursday and then
[1:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: with just the exception of the Gala, the 2026 Milano Cortina, figure skating events will come to a close.
[1:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's too fast, I can hopefully we're getting there, okay?
[1:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's not, no, no, I can't do something more.
[1:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know, I said how fast it went, well, I was there, I thought it was going to be a little bit, you know, go a little slower, but
[1:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh well, but we need to talk about the pairs.
[1:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What a pairs event it was.
[1:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Though I'm gonna say Mateo, I was a little nervous after Sunday's pair short program.
[1:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I thought I packed all the negative energy, all the negative vibes in my suitcase when I left, Milan.
[2:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And when I watched that short program on Sunday, I was like, what happened?
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Did I leave it in Milan?
[2:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because I could have sworn.
[2:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I made sure I packed it with me.
[2:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, you know, that short program was not what I was expecting, but everything was much better in the free skate.
[2:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And we have a new Olympic pair's champions.
[2:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: for the first time, Japan has a pairs Olympic champions, Rico, Mira, and Rishi, Chiara of Japan, won the event by just shy of 10 points.
[2:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They came up from fifth place to take the gold.
[2:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think, was it you, Mateo, or was it deafening?
[2:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In our text, they're at mention.
[2:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is the second event where somebody who was in fifth after the short program won the gold medal.
[3:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, you know that happened in the men's event with Mikhail Scheideroff.
[3:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He was in fifth.
[3:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He came up in one, um, the gold in the men's event.
[3:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Silver went to Georgia's Anastasia Matakina and Luca Brulava, um, and Germany's.
[3:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Renerva Fabi and Hase and Akita Voloden took the bronze they were the leaders after the short program But I will say the skate of the free skate for me was Riku and Ryushi
[3:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh my god, did they deliver?
[3:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You should have been there.
[3:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was, I don't know how much she got on TV, but it was pure magic in the venue.
[3:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They did so well from a technical point of view.
[3:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We know that their speed is very twice as fast or than anyone else there.
[3:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're just incredible, but they also are felt like they broke their hearts to the eyes when they were skating.
[3:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They literally got there saying, these is our moment.
[4:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We are going to do all
[4:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We need to make it happen.
[4:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And while at the end, I told you, it was me seeing you next to me because I was next to you.
[4:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Japanese journalist, they were also crying like, I was doing because a strong emotional moment where you see them, but even their dream.
[4:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And we know how much that means for them.
[4:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, they've been phenomenal in these four years leading to the Olympic games.
[4:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And, you know, it's your one chance.
[4:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We know what happened with Ilya.
[4:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, it's not to be taken for granted.
[4:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: you're the best in the field and you win at the Olympics because it's such a different field from Emphrenels, but luckily they're with the levers.
[4:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The Waren des leaders chair for quite a while actually because we know that you know the where the last skater in the third group, so the one before the last group, they got in the leaders chair and then they saw
[4:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: the Incairians and the Canadians and then the Georgians and then fun little to Germans and there was still there in the little chair and when the scores came up they each remembered almost shocked.
[5:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They didn't know what to think and and I can say that you know they were I don't know how to explain that but they were emotional but they were happy at the same time
[5:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: you could see the happiness so much afterwards in the mix on in the press conference.
[5:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They were, you know, doing little jumps, there were a lot of laughter here, the, you know, big smiles.
[5:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I feel like, um,
[5:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: There went through so much in terms of the emotional spectrum that they explored from finishing such a good free skate to becoming the Olympic champion and realizing that in their own heads.
[5:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Plus, you know, as you said, making history for Japan, because it's the first pair's medal in
[5:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: in the winter Olympics history for Japan, and yeah, I mean, wow, very fantastic.
[6:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I can only say, wow, probably said 25 hours so far, but that's what it was.
[6:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was wow.
[6:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, it was.
[6:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And watching from home, I was like, that,
[6:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: was an Olympic gold medal performance and I know we still had four teams to go at that point and don't worry Mateo though I was in next to you crying I was crying here at home so I was crying with you in spirit I'm sorry I just wasn't
[6:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: next to you to do so.
[6:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yeah, definitely brought me to tears and seeing Ryuichi crying, you know, I was so happy for them.
[6:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And Bruno Markot, their coach basically told them, it's not over yet.
[6:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: um after the short program and we we say it all the time you can't win the event with just the short program there's that's why we have two programs and so I was so happy for them that they put aside that short program where they came down early off that lift and had that mistake and then they you know they just came back it was like a brand new riku and riuqi out there and it was
[7:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So refreshing to see him skate so well and have that Olympic performance for sure.
[7:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then our silver medalist was Anastasia Matzakina and Luca Brulava.
[7:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were in second after the short program.
[7:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So they just kind of stayed in that second medalist position.
[7:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For them, I thought they had more mistakes than they normally do.
[7:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[7:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We've seen them be like really perfect, and then we've seen them have these mistakes here there.
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like earlier this season, a lot of the mistakes they were having were with the list.
[7:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And to this week, it was more with the throws.
[8:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She was having these up stepouts.
[8:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: in the throes.
[8:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, um, you know, they have that mentality of being really determined and she was, we've heard it in so many interviews she's done.
[8:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She was wanting gold.
[8:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And, um, so they came close to that gold winning silver.
[8:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I have to say, among the three teams, there was just this
[8:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: great camaraderie and sportsmanship and I'm sure Mateo you can talk more about that because you were there and I'm only seeing it based on what the camera is showing but everyone was congratulating everybody else it really just felt like a really good atmosphere.
[8:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, that's something that I'm also working on for instance, to come where I'm reflecting on Olympians supporting Olympians, because one of the key spirits and values of the Olympic Games is fraternity, and you can definitely believe and break it here.
[9:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, as you said, all these pair of teams were that it didn't seem like there was a river right between them.
[9:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's more like we are here to do our best, whatever happens.
[9:14] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And we are all living these things.
[9:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: same magical experience.
[9:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So let's just support each other, hug each other.
[9:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Also, you know, there are so many skaters that are now done with their competitions.
[9:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And they were all there in the audience.
[9:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, we know Team Dique was their supporting girlfriend Saraconti.
[9:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And he had this very funny, uh, uh, Matador dress in the show program.
[9:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And yesterday was there with Olivia's Mars and Jean-Luc Baker next to him.
[9:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But also the Germans, uh, Jennifer Yasim and Rensburg and Ben
[9:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: they were, they had this giant inflated pretzel that they had there to support the Germans.
[9:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So this is showing how much you'll be in bigs, you nice, larger than device.
[10:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think that this is also something that goes beyond geolimpic games though, because is it not something that Illya says?
[10:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So he says, you've been there because we are competing against each other.
[10:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We are enemies, so to speak, but we're not.
[10:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We actually all hear,
[10:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: we believe in the same dream and we support each other.
[10:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And that's exactly what we saw yesterday.
[10:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The amount of hugs, even Anastasia and Luca Hagen, Riku and Ryuchi, you know, the headlong hugs and then Anastasia hugs, Ryuchi and then she goes back to Riku again.
[10:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Enough work, that's so sweet.
[10:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Well then,
[10:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: yeah i get that figure skating seems to have this camaraderie um you know we saw it at the US championships with the blade angels who will be taking the ice um later today that's Amber Glenn is a bolevito and elicilloo so um i'm not surprised by this at all that we're seeing these scenes
[10:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: at the Olympic Games.
[11:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's just so refreshing.
[11:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It makes me love the sport even more because you're not seeing the divisiveness between teams and skaters.
[11:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm sure, you know, everybody wants to be everybody else, but you're not seeing that out in the open.
[11:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's, again, I'm
[11:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I also add, when he comes to the Georgians, I want to go back to the fact that it's a historic medal for them.
[11:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's the first time Georgia medals at the Winfield Olympic Games I understand, so it's a huge significance, and I can only imagine what type of pressure they had on their shoulders because we know Georgia was there fighting for the team event, bronze medal, and did not succeed to do that.
[11:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So the fact that they actually got his medal is quite a success for Team Georgia and the
[11:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But also, I feel like both Luke and Nastasia, but particularly Nastasia, she, to me, looks like a new Aliona Sashenko, meaning that she's got their fire.
[12:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You can look at her and she's out there, and she's like, I am here to show you what I'm worth.
[12:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I don't think we're going to see them leaving the field soon.
[12:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I've been able to come back to the next Olympic Games, and I should be a threat for a gold medal.
[12:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again.
[12:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I know, Daphne and I were kind of talking, and I think you were in the text thread, will they go to junior worlds?
[12:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because they are still eligible to go to junior worlds, and I'm wondering, you know, just because they've...
[12:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We saw them in previous seasons competing both on Junior and Senior, will they do Junior Worlds and Worlds?
[12:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Part of me thinks they may just do that because she is just so determined and she's just got that.
[12:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: fire within her, as you said, she reminds of Alano, so Chancho, um, so I don't know, you know, could we see them in Junior Worlds as Olympic silver medalists should they be a Junior Worlds probably not, but, I mean, that it's a possibility, you know, they are still age eligible.
[13:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, I have to say about the Germans, Minerva, Fabian Hasse, and a key to voting.
[13:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They, in my opinion, saved the short program.
[13:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think I said it.
[13:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That was the skate of the short program because they came out and delivered a really good skate, you know, to take a lead.
[13:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They had what like a five point lead.
[13:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: after the short program.
[13:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Of course, they had mistakes in the free that pushed them down to the bronze metal spot.
[13:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But for me, they were the highlight of the short.
[13:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was just unfortunate.
[14:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They weren't able to have that same skate in the free skate.
[14:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Correct, yeah.
[14:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I feel like we said it before between us, but the short program was interesting
[14:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And then you get to, you know, to the big names out there when you're like, oh,
[14:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think that he said something like, is anyone willing to, to win the league games?
[14:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She said, you know, it's a funny day to, you know, a funny way to just say, hello, stop making these mistakes, and luckily as he said, the Germans winning, and they were like boom, boom, boom, boom, although it, and I was actually quite pleased for them, because we know this season has not been very easy, particularly from my nervous side.
[14:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She, I think she had mistakes that she was not usually making.
[14:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I remember when I saw them at the Grand Prix of Fieldland,
[14:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She was saying, I'm making mistakes, I don't usually make, and I'm planning not to make them again this season that they're even euros were not, you know, perfect for them.
[14:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But to come here to deliver a debt show program, get the debt advantage, and then get out in the free as well, being the last ones getting in the free knowing.
[15:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: that there is pressure to win.
[15:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And interesting thing in the mix, though, where asked, did you know about the result, particularly of the result of the Japanese couple?
[15:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And Minerva said, no, I had no idea what anyone did before we got out for the free program.
[15:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But Nikita had me say, there's actually he knew what happened with the Japanese.
[15:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I think, you know, that he luckily managed to still get to the podium, but what I want to try to say here
[15:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: in their delivery, that the geoteal origins and the Germans had to have the skate of their lives to exceed their personal best by the margin to win against Japanese because the Japanese really had a huge skate there, so that's a testament to how strong they are currently in the field.
[15:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And also, you know, let's not forget the young carriers.
[16:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: What did I keep saying throughout the entire season?
[16:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Keep your eyes on Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviachenko.
[16:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And men, they had a skater of their life.
[16:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: At some point, I was like, oh my gosh, my intuition that there might be meddling could be true, because look, they've got so close to it.
[16:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They were really close to the podium.
[16:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They had 215 combined points total.
[16:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: and the Germans got to 190, so they were just there, and these are phenomenal results.
[16:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Put a two of them.
[16:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh yeah, definitely, and you were right about them all season, and they were so close just what, like less than four points, they actually had the third best free skate, so yeah, watch out for them, I'm guessing they're going to continue beyond the Olympics and be
[16:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: into next season, so we could be seeing them as world medalists later this season, we could see them who knows, but yeah, they were very impressive in both programs really.
[17:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I thought maybe the free skate definitely bet more than the short, but I kind of had a feeling they would
[17:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: in fifth place with Sweet and Hon and I was a little surprised that they were in fifth place.
[17:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Just because they had mistakes on the side by side jumps in both programs.
[17:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So they finished fifth.
[17:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Go of, I don't know if they're going to go to world's material.
[18:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Did you hear anything?
[18:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it seemed like I was not in a mechanism, but it seems like they said that this was their last competition.
[18:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: If that's the case, then the leech came back to go to the Olympics again and leave.
[18:14] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, well done for a fifth place overall.
[18:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, there's still legends because, you know,
[18:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: four years ago, and there's still top of their game, but I do agree with you that conferred to other skaters.
[18:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, maybe there are some tactical elements that I could not appreciate as much, not being there, incredibly technical about it.
[18:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I won't say, yeah, they were not the exceptional compares to other teams that were a little below them.
[18:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[18:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: surprise in that final group heading the final group of the free skate there.
[19:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We had Canada's Lea Pereira and Trent Michelle.
[19:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were in third after the short program.
[19:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I did not see that coming.
[19:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I had a feeling that most likely they were not going to metal.
[19:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But how impressive of a
[19:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Olympics for them.
[19:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, they kind of had to step in and do the team event, give in, D&A Salado Dudek and make some just shums with drawing from that.
[19:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: so they skated twice in the team event, then they came out and did two more skates in the pairs event, a really good short program to be in third, they finished eighth overall, but they should be very proud of how they skated during these Olympics.
[19:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Definitely, I was in expecting them to be, you know,
[20:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to be in that last group, and to have that skate, but we know the other teams struggled, and so that was the reason they were still in that last group.
[20:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But way to go for them, I'm hoping they are leaving these Olympics feeling very proud and very happy with how they skated during this whole event.
[20:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, we're speaking of the Canadians.
[20:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's talk about the Anastilato Dudek and Maxim Deschamps.
[20:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We were sure, um, what was going to happen with them if they were going to be able to compete in, of course, they did compete.
[20:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Short program.
[20:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She had the mistake coming out of the lift.
[20:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was really weird.
[20:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think they clipped blaze is what it looked like.
[20:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were 14th after the short program.
[20:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: finished 11th overall, 9th in the free skate, but is so determined as Deanna is and we know Deanna wanted a medal.
[21:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think given the situation with the fact that they were injured coming into these games and they had to miss the team event,
[21:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think just being on Olympic ice was enough for Diana and she was sobbing I think after the skate it was she's such an inspiration so I was glad they got their Olympic moment.
[21:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It wasn't maybe what they wanted it to be, you know, given that they are 2024 world champions.
[21:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They probably, if she was 100% healthy and they did not have that injury, could they have been in the metal content, in metal content, 100%.
[22:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And she wanted one of that metal.
[22:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let me tell you, but I think just being on Olympic ice was enough for her.
[22:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And sorry, just.
[22:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: quick thing, if you're here a bit of background noise, I'm sorry, but I'm in a space bit of a people, so just to apologize in about it.
[22:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But to disagree with you, she, we know that the way she was coming into this Olympic, so it's incredibly inspirational for them to have been here and to have achieved what they achieved, given not just a physical pressure, but also the men for pressure to approach the Olympics like that.
[22:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And yet, can I also mention, as well, I think we're going to probably mention another to you, uh, uh, uh, national Olympic committees.
[22:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm going to talk about the Italian one.
[22:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So Sarah continues a lot much.
[22:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She ended in sixth place, um, they, uh, had a where eight after the short program and had the sixth best, uh, free, um, skate of the day.
[22:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I felt like, you know, they still get out of, uh, this competition victorious because they have a bronze
[23:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But it was nice for them to get there to close these.
[23:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And as I mentioned before, I think it was a very sweet moment with Nes Team V supporting Sarah as much as he did from the audience.
[23:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I felt like Rebecca, Guilardian Philippe, from Brazilian also had an incredibly moving moment so they were 12 at the end overall.
[23:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And we know that there are season and all but if not the last two years to be absolutely honest, we're incredibly difficult.
[23:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They kept making mistakes.
[23:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They could not get away from it.
[23:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It seems like they were almost fating a mental block.
[23:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But to see them skate so well, at the Olympics, emulan was incredibly, um,
[23:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Moving, they had a huge reaction as much as Saranikulaw, Philippe was in tears, so well-dunted a two of them, actually they both were in tears, well-dunted a two of them, and I wish them the best of luck, because, you know, perhaps this is going to be the last season, so we'll see if we have an official announcement coming out at some points,
[24:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, and I want to go back to Sarah and Nickelow there.
[24:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Given if she wasn't injured, could they have been contenders for a medal?
[24:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Absolutely.
[24:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think we've been saying that all along.
[24:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the fact that they had a misier pins, it kind of,
[24:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: kind of made that less likely that they were going to win an individual medal.
[24:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But again, as you said, they're going home as Olympic bronze medalists, they didn't do that bad out there, of course.
[24:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yeah, it would have been a whole lot different.
[24:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again, with some of these teams that had some of these injuries right before these Olympics that it hindered their
[25:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: possibility of being Olympic medalist in the actual event.
[25:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Just to give everyone an idea, they took 223.28 points in the Grand Prix final, and that's an indication that if they were scared in the same level at the same level, there would have been the silver medalist.
[25:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Just as an example,
[25:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: tension was there definitely, but it's still in big, it life has been happen.
[25:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And as I said, still have a very important medal to to leave your Olympics with.
[25:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[25:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I have to now mention the team USA teams, Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe.
[25:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They finished 7th overall, they had a really good free skate.
[25:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were 7th in the free skate, so, you know, great.
[25:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Olympics for them to have a top 10 finish.
[26:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And their teammates also had a top 10 finish.
[26:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Uh, Ellie Cam and Danielle Shay finish ninth.
[26:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, they were seventh after the short program.
[26:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They finished 12th in the free skate.
[26:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I had said, um, the Ellie was landing her throes and her side by side jumps.
[26:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: at the Olympics.
[26:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Unfortunately, it just didn't happen in the free skate, but they should be incredibly happy and proud of their Olympic performances.
[26:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, they contributed so much to that team event with that dynamic free skate that they had that I said was the highlight
[26:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: in the team event.
[26:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Unfortunately, we're not able to replicate that.
[26:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, it's a long Olympics.
[26:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, we okay.
[26:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, there were days off in between, but to think about it, you're competing four times in in a short span of time.
[27:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, look at our Grand Prix, unless you have back-to-back Grand Prix, you're not competing two weekends in a row.
[27:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You've got maybe a week off in between or something, or you may have the first event in the very last event, and so you've got a few weeks in between.
[27:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: this is different in the sense that there's a lot going on so you're you're constantly going whether you're at a practice, whether you're competing, whether you're doing some media, sit somewhere or you're hanging out with Snoop Dogg,
[27:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a lot going on in such a spend of time, so I'm sure these athletes who participated in the team event or who have been there from the beginning of the Olympics are getting tired and so
[28:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: it'll be interesting to see how our women do today and then again on Thursday some of these women have been there since the beginning.
[28:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They participated in the team event.
[28:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Others are just just came within the past few days.
[28:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I know Luna Hendrix was one of them.
[28:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She has not been in Milan since
[28:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The beginning so it'll be just interesting to see but it is as we said if it's going by quickly, but it's a long
[28:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: time to be not at your home rank, to be not on a normal schedule that you would have to be training it in a different place.
[28:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a lot for these athletes and for some who've competed multiple times, I'm sure the exhaustion has come into place.
[28:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, it's it's
[29:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Well, that's why it happens once a before-year isn't it?
[29:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Because otherwise it would be quite unsustainable for these poor people to deal with it.
[29:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But yeah, can I maybe wrap up things with the pairs just by adding a couple of comments about the event in general?
[29:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And discipline as well.
[29:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So the first thing I wanted to say is that was a time after the last winter Olympic games where people were saying pairs of boring.
[29:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: First of dying, it's a discipline that doesn't have interesting teams anymore.
[29:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I hope you are all staying the opposite thing, help.
[29:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: These event was fantastic.
[29:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The audience was full.
[29:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, there was no assumption that, oh, it's bears.
[29:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's not going to feel up the seat.
[29:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was full again.
[29:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The cheers were the loudest.
[29:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Gina will remember that the team event has the loudest cheers, but we were all there.
[29:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Everyone was rooting for each one of the single teams.
[29:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was amazing.
[30:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I'm really glad they were witnessing these and I hope that we continue to see very strong stage going forward.
[30:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think teams will continue to push themselves and we can see, you know, it's difficult anyway.
[30:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's not something that it's free of difficulty and race, so of course there are teams that require cautious, trained teams that will try to go full in, but we still have a lot of entertainment from the pairs and I cannot wait to see what worlds will bring and the back seasons will bring.
[30:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: exactly.
[30:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I won't keep you much longer Mateo because I know you got to get going because we have a jam-packed women's event later today with 29 teams or 29 skaters competing.
[30:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 24 will make it to the free skate but we've got five groups of women that will be taking the ice later today.
[30:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Some taking the ice for the very first time.
[30:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean we haven't seen
[31:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: these skaters yet a lot of these skaters yet because either they did not participate in the team event or their country was not in the team event but of course that final group we've got in there Alyssa Liu who we did see in the short program of the team event
[31:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Isabella Levito, who has been there since the beginning, she will finally have her opportunity to take Olympic ice.
[31:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have Anastasia Gubanova, who we did see in the team event for Georgia.
[31:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Kawari Sakamoto is competing in her final Olympics.
[31:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm sure Mateo, I know I'm not going to be next to you, but there will be tears today when I'm watching.
[31:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I
[31:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I have to probably shut my office door because I don't want anybody from work to come in and seeing me crying Um, we have Amber Glenn We did see her in the team event.
[31:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have Monet Cheeb of Japan.
[31:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have not seen Monet Cheeb and I mean the Kai of Japan yet So that'll be interesting to see them
[32:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mentioned Luna Hendricks, a bell-jump, uh, Nina Petrickina, the European champion will be taking the ice for the first time.
[32:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There is a lot of great names, a lot of great skaters to be watching.
[32:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Of course, we do have two athletes that are individual neutral athletes.
[32:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They will be kicking the things off in the women's short program.
[32:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's going to be an interesting event.
[32:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I can't believe though we are at the last event.
[32:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So women's short program today, Thursday is the women's free skate, then Mateo, you're off back to London.
[32:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And
[32:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the Olympics is coming to a close with the exception of the gala.
[32:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's just crazy.
[32:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We were looking forward to this for so long.
[32:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And now it's like almost done.
[32:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I can't believe it.
[33:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, I mean, it's truly a fantastic experience.
[33:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I mean, one does realize we were talking about their energy levels.
[33:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Our energy levels are also
[33:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: incredibly low because you know you left and you're back and you've got to work and you were telling me that you have a bit of jet lag to deal with but I'm still here is this what they 12 of non-stop consecutive skating, skating, media, traveling through place A, B, C and of course you know you're in Milan you try to do everything that you can the cold drone.
[33:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I still want to try go to do Olympic village, which I didn't have a chance to do before I arrived, because you could go to the media day, but I was actually flying to Milan when that happens.
[33:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I have to say, yes, today, you know, I got so tired that I had forced myself to go back to the flat and have an up of an hour, to then go back and luck to enjoy the pairs full of energy.
[33:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's how much it takes out of you, such a, um, an event.
[34:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But would I want to be anywhere else?
[34:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Absolutely, keep me here, keep me on out of two weeks.
[34:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thanks so much to that, I don't care, I want to be here.
[34:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Why me back to Milan?
[34:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's where I want to be.
[34:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Instead of getting ready to start a work day, my first work day, and I don't know, two weeks, basically.
[34:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So yeah, I would love to go back, I'd love to do it all over again.
[34:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was the crazy one.
[34:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When you said you took a nap yesterday,
[34:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And let me tell you, that did not go as well as I planned when you tried to do it.
[34:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You didn't have an alert at the moment.
[34:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, no, we'll have a good moment.
[34:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When you're trying to spin in your dizzy and your tired, it just doesn't work.
[34:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm sure the athletes can attest to that.
[34:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yeah, no, so it wasn't the greatest.
[34:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yes, I did have a little jet lag this morning.
[34:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was awake at one a.m. going.
[34:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, it's time to start the day, and I'm like, no, it's not seven in the morning.
[35:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's not what time I was getting up when I was in Milan.
[35:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, all right, I'm gonna let you go, Mateo, we are going to, I think the next time we record,
[35:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're going to bring in Daphne, and we're going to wrap it all up.
[35:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, we'll talk about the women, and I think we're going to do it.
[35:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You'll be back in London.
[35:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think that was the plan.
[35:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So this is our last time recording with you and Malon.
[35:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh, she's my dog.
[35:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Ah, okay.
[35:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Well, that's a theme.
[35:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I concludes my conclusion.
[35:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's a sigh.
[35:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: of not just gonna not be over and I think yeah I've got a bit we got something going on isn't it so I have to say something in Italian.
[35:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah you one more time you have to say to an Italian.
[35:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I'm going to say what I'm not competitive soon at the La Donna which means happy women's competition.
[36:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sounds good we will talk to you later.
[36:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Ciao.
[36:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of This Week in Skating.
[36:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Remember, you can keep up with us throughout the week by visiting our website at www.thisweekinscating.com.
[36:20] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Connect with us on social media for additional updates.
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[36:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Until next time, have a nice week!

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