The German figure skating pair Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin secured the bronze medal in pairs at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. They led after the short program but missed gold due to errors in the free skate. Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won with a world record.
At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the German figure skating pair Minerva Hase and Nikita Wolodin won the bronze medal in pairs. The 2025 European champions led after an error-free short program with a 4.55-point advantage over the eventual silver medalists Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulawa from Georgia. In the free skate, however, the 26-year-olds showed weaknesses: Hase erred in the combination and the triple Salchow, costing crucial points. They finished third with 219.09 points.
The Olympic gold went to Japanese world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara with 231.24 points, thanks to a world-record free skate, despite being fifth after the short program. Metelkina and Berulawa scored 221.75 points. The second German pair, Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, placed tenth with 194.11 points.
For Hase and Wolodin, this is their first Olympic medal and their biggest career success to date. It marks Germany's first figure skating medal since Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot's gold in 2018 in Pyeongchang. The Berlin-based duo has been together for over three years, paired by coach Dmitri Savin. Wolodin, originally from St. Petersburg, recently obtained German citizenship. The 2025/2026 season was mixed; at the European Championships in Sheffield, they finished second behind Metelkina/Berulawa. After the short program, Hase said: "We are very happy with the first part, but we are saving the big emotions for later." Savin described the pair as "like an old married couple."
