Ellie Kam and accomplice Danny O’Shea of Group United States compete within the Pair Skating – Brief Program on the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic video games at Milano Ice Skating Enviornment on February 06, 2026 in Milan, Italy.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Photographs Europe
conceal caption
toggle caption
Matthew Stockman/Getty Photographs Europe
MILAN – After a long time of observe and competitors, American skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea have been lastly on Olympic ice Friday, floating and twisting in good concord within the group pair brief program. Then it occurred. Quicker than you possibly can snap your fingers, Kam fell with a bump.
“We want we have been good each single time we step out on the ice,” the 21-year-old Kam mentioned after the efficiency with a melancholy smile. “However you realize, ice is slippery.”
What’s fascinating about Kam and O’Shea’s efficiency in Milan is not that they stumbled. No quantity of labor or coaching can take away each variable each time. The historical past of Olympic determine skating is formed nearly as a lot by epic falls as by hovering pirouettes.
What’s exceptional is how briskly they recovered. In one other snap of the fingers, with ok.d. Lang’s model of “Hallelujah” as their soundtrack, Kam leapt again off the exhausting ice, spinning into rhythm with O’Shea.
“(Kam) did not want me to choose her up. She received up and went after the subsequent factor,” mentioned O’Shea, who’s 34. “We put the previous up to now, and stepped proper into the subsequent ingredient.”
How do skaters do it? How do they discover grace within the moments after the bodily and emotional punishment of an Olympic fall?
“I imply it is a number of observe, for positive,” Kam mentioned. “We focus [in training], in order that if one thing does go improper in competitors, we do not have to query something. I will be the place he’s.”
There’s additionally communication: “We undoubtedly take a look at one another,” O’Shea mentioned. “I do a number of speaking all through our program. In that second, it is a deep breath. It is like, all proper, calm, another factor, spin.”
“We simply fell down, it’s totally unusual”
They weren’t the one ones to hit the ice on Friday. China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong gained a gold medal in pairs determine skating on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
However throughout their group pair skating program, Sui Wenjing landed exhausting after flipping by the air.
“We fell down this time,” Han Cong mentioned. “We have skated nicely not too long ago, however we simply fell down, it’s totally unusual. We’ve got time now to arrange for the subsequent [event].” Nodding confidently, Sui Wenjing mentioned, “We must always get extra time to observe and recuperate from jet lag.”
Generally, bouncing again from that sort of stumble can result in triumph.
After the crash: Olympic triumph
On the 2006 Winter Video games in Torino, China’s Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao tried a technical, dangerous throw that on the time had by no means been landed in a serious worldwide competitors. It did not work.
Zhang Dan landed exhausting, falling into an ungainly splits. She left the ice with an injured knee whereas Zhang Hou held her up. Remarkably, the pair returned to the ice a short while later and went on to win a silver medal.
“When the music began once more we did not know the place to begin our components, however we gave a gesture after which we carried on,” mentioned Zhang Dan, then 20 years outdated, to the China.org information service. “Steadily, after we restarted we grew to become an increasing number of clear in our minds methods to do these components. We wished to go on.”
Nathan Chen of america falls whereas performing through the males’s brief program determine skating within the Gangneung Ice Enviornment on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea.
David J. Phillip/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
David J. Phillip/AP
In 2018, American Nathan Chen pulled off an identical restoration. After falling repeatedly on the Winter Video games in South Korea, he made Olympic historical past by being the primary skater to nail six quadruple jumps in a single free skate program.
“I used to be like, I already fell so many occasions, I’d as nicely exit and throw every thing down and see what occurs,” Chen, the two-time Olympic gold medal winner, advised NPR on the time. “Screw it, I’ve nothing to lose.”
The aim, after all, is to keep away from falls of that magnitude and recuperate with as little drama as attainable.
“I used to be like, whoopsies!” – Alysa Liu, age 20, talking after her first outing on the Milan Cortina Winter Video games
Throughout Friday’s group girls’s single skating competitors in Milan, American Alysa Liu, age 20, did simply that. She might be seen grimacing after making a small error throughout her efficiency, touchdown awkwardly off a spinning double axel.
“I used to be like, whoopsies!” Liu mentioned, laughing. “My touchdown was actually ahead, proper?” She mentioned she felt assured in her routine and was capable of rapidly recuperate, sticking the landings on her subsequent jumps confidently. “It is all good, proper?”
Alysa Liu of america competes through the determine skating girls’s group occasion on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Picture/Francisco Seco)
Francisco Seco/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Francisco Seco/AP
Liu completed sturdy, capturing second place for her portion of the group occasion, whereas serving to carry the U.S. group into first place for the general group skating competitors that continues by Sunday.
