Winter Olympics figure skating results: 2 pairs qualify for Team USA
The pairs event started on Monday and Team USA has two chances at the podium.
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
A total of 20 duos took to the ice at the Iceberg Skating Palace to begin the Pairs Short Program. Two pairs qualified for Team USA, both are positioned for a chance at the podium in Sochi with a good final day.
The latest medal count
Be sure to keep SB Nation's beautiful, constantly-updated medal tracker by your side all Olympics long. Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir followed up on their bronze medal in the team event by posting a 67.44 in the short program. It was a similarly skilled routine to their attempt in teams, but improved their overall score by over three points thanks in part to a higher technical score.
They will be joined in the free skate portion by fellow Americans Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay who posted a weaker score at 56.90.
Similarities between the team and pairs competition continued with scores being eerily similar across the board. The top three almost followed their placing in the earlier event, but the German pair of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy posted a huge score of 79.64.
Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia posted the highest score of the day with a 84.17. They will be the team to beat when the event résumés.
You can find the full results here, but these are your finalists who will compete in the free skate.
| Place | Country | Name | Score |
| 1 | RUS | Tatiana Volosozhar/ Maxim Trankov | 84.17 |
| 2 | GER | Aliona Savchenho/ Robin Szolkowy | 79.64 |
| 3 | RUS | Ksenia Stolbova/ Fedor Klimov | 75.21 |
| 4 | CHN | Qing Pang/ Jian Tong | 73.30 |
| 5 | CAN | Meagan Duhamel/ Eric Radford | 72.21 |
| 6 | CAN | Kristen Moore-Towers/ Dylan Moscovitch | 70.92 |
| 7 | CHN | Chang Peng/ Hao Zhang | 70.59 |
| 8 | RUS | Vera Bazarova/ Yuri Larionov | 69.66 |
| 9 | USA | Marissa Castelli/ Simon Shnapir | 67.44 |
| 10 | FRA | Vanessa James/ Morgan Cipres | 65.36 |
| 11 | ITA | Stefania Berton/ Ondrej Hotarek | 63.57 |
| 12 | GER | Maylin Wende/ Daniel Wende | 59.25 |
| 13 | CAN | Paige Lawrence/ Rudi Swiegers | 58.97 |
| 14 | USA | Felicia Zhang/ Nathan Bartholomay | 56.90 |
| 15 | ISR | Andrea Davidovich/ Evgeni Krasnopolski | 53.38 |
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