Photos by Melanie Heaney

Buongiorno from Milano!

Time flies so fast: the pairs medals have been awarded, meaning that we only have the women’s podium to be determined.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won a gold medal skating their hearts out in a final that saw teams delivering incredible programmes. With this result, they made history for Japan, winning the first pairs medal in the Winter Olympics for their country.

The short programme was quite a journey, with teams from first to tenth place finishing within ten points of each other, which, in pairs terms, means that anything could happen.

Miura and Kihara finished in fifth place, which had them starting their free in the one-before-last group. Despite that, their free programme was a celebration of their craft, skated beautifully and with a speed that was second to none.

After spending all the last group on the leaders’ chair, upon realising that they were Olympic champions, they became very emotional and remained speechless for a short while, not able to hold back the tears, then congratulated the other medallists and got ready for the podium. In the mixed zone and during the press conference, they looked quite relaxed and showed big smiles.

History was also made for Georgia, with Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava earning a silver that becomes their country’s first ever Winter Olympic medal. Their free programme was skated delivered in a very solid way, showing how strong they are. They took the ice looking focused and ready to achieve their dream.

Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin were in the lead after the short programme, but their free skate couldn’t allow them to fight back against the unsurpassable Japanese team. Their combined scores still allowed them to secure a bronze medal, despite their free being the fourth best of the day.

I have to mention the Hungarian team: Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko are having a fantastic season, and they didn’t waste the Olympic opportunity to skate the free of their lives, which resulted in a fantastic new personal best for them and a fourth-place finish. Also, moving performances from Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii (Team Event bronze medallists), and Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini, both celebrated with loud cheers.

What I wanted to reflect on is how beautiful it is to witness Olympians supporting Olympians. This is in line with the Olympic value of fraternity, something that historically has always been at the core of the Games.

Let me mention a few of the ice dancers that were at the pairs event.

Tim Dieck wanted to show all his support to girlfriend Sara Conti. We know Tim, he is no ordinary guy: during the short programme, Tim was wearing a matador dress, cheering out loud and also attempting a Spanish flamenco-type pose; in the free, he had an Italian flag with Sara and Niccolò’s faces on it. His cheers were so loud, you could almost hear him out of the nearly 10,000 that were there!

Sitting with him were Olivia Smart and Jean-Luc Baker, also cheering out loud and being stopped by spectators to congratulate them on their engagement.

On the other side of the arena, I spotted Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan with a giant inflated pretzel. That’s how Germans show their support!

Allison Reed, Saulius Ambrulevičius, Phebe Bekker, James Hernandez and Holly Harris were also there, and I am sure more were in the arena.

Don’t we love seeing Olympians supporting other Olympians? I am glad that, although the ice dance event is completed, athletes can continue to enjoy the Olympic spirit and live that value of fraternity that has always been at the core of the Olympic Games.

Matteo