The final individual event of the Olympics is the Pairs event and these are our predictions. There is no better chance for a host nation medal or win than in this competition.
We’re all simultaneously manifesting a win for China’s Sui / Han. After losing out on the gold by such a small margin in the 2018 Olympics, they come into this competition with their sights set on doing one better than their silver. It will be a tough battle, likely between them and ROC’s Mishina / Galliamov who are the reigning World and European champions. However…should it be that close? Whilst Mishina / Galliamov are certainly the stronger jumpers, the judges have been overly generous with their Program Component Scores which really shouldn’t be equalling the Chinese team or even their compatriots Tarasova / Morozov. Nonetheless, it will come down to the wire. Sui / Han bettered their rivals in the team event by a fraction of a point, and they’re planning to bring back their quad twist in the free skate to make up for their jump base value deficit. The usually unflappable Mishina / Galliamov also had a shocking fall in the team event that could make them more vulnerable.
ROC’s other teams Tarasova / Morozov and Boikova / Kozlovskii will likely be fighting it out for the podium as well. Ultimately it will come down to who skates the cleanest, as both teams are susceptible to errors, usually in jumps or throws. If they have truly terrible skates, they’ll leave the door open for some surprises.
Japan’s Miura / Kihara have had a breakout season after finishing top 10 at Worlds last year. They’ve gone from strength to strength and are coming off of two solid skates in the team event that helped bring Japan to a (currently) bronze medal.
For outliers that could make a push we have Canada’s Moore-Towers / Marinaro and China’s Peng / Jin. Both teams are capable of wonderful skates but have struggled with consistency recently.
| Elli’s predictions | Lois’s predictions | Sarah’s predictions | |
| 1 | Wenjing Sui / Cong Han | Wenjing Sui / Cong Han | Wenjing Sui / Cong Han |
| 2 | Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii | Anastasia Mishina / Aleksandr Galliamov | Anastasia Mishina / Aleksandr Galliamov |
| 3 | Anastasia Mishina / Aleksandr Galliamov | Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov | Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii |
| 4 | Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov | Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii | Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov |
| 5 | Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro | Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara | Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara |
Don’t count out: Cheng Peng / Yang Jin
