Hase and Volodin of Germany seize Olympic pairs lead as favorites stumble at the Milan Cortina Games

MILAN — Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin were the beneficiaries of another unpredictable night of Olympic figure skating.

The German pair, who have struggled with consistency themselves, made it through their short program cleanly while all of the other favorites faltered Sunday night, giving them a comfortable lead going into the free skate at the Milan Cortina Games.

Performing to ''El Abrazo'' by French composer Maxime Rodriguez, Hase and Volodin opened with a brilliant triple twist, landed their side-by-side triple salchows, and their throw triple loop put an exclamation mark on a program that earned them 80.01 points.

''Our goal was to go out there and feel like we do in practice and just do our job,'' Hase said. ''So we tried to do that and then after the program we were happy that everything worked out. The crowd was amazing. They supported us a lot. So we are happy overall. But it was just the first part. So tomorrow we have to do the same again.''

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, who made a mistake on their throw triple flip but were otherwise solid, were well behind in second place with 75.46 points as they try to give Georgia its first ever medal at the Winter Games.

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud of Canada were third with 74.60 in what could be a tight competition for the podium Monday night.

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, the world champions from Japan and heavy favorites to win gold, will have to stage a big comeback after a major mistake on their lift cost them nearly six points. Miura awkwardly slid off Kihara's shoulders near the end of the element, and that error was enough to send them tumbling all the way to fifth place with 73.11 points.

The defending Olympic champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, went long before the rest of the favorites because the order is based partly on world rankings. And because they only began a comeback last June after a two-year retirement brought on by Han's injuries, their ranking had suffered, and they wound up being the second pair to take the ice.

They also became the first of the favorites to stumble; Sui fell on their opening triple toe loop and they finished with 72.66 points.

''This is a good memory because this is our third time at the Olympics,'' Han said. ''We wanted to show what we have now.''

Former world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek, the 42-year-old from the Chicago area, and her Canadian partner Maxime Deschamps weren't even sure they would compete at these Olympics when she sustained a head injury in a recent practice fall.

They had a strong program going until Stellato-Dudek's fluke fall at the end of their reverse lasso lift. They scored just 66.04.

Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, who helped the U.S. capture team gold last week, were the top American pair in seventh place with 71.87 points. Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, a private first class in the U.S. Army, were ninth with 70.06 points.

''Everybody's goal is to go out there and skate clean and nail all the elements,'' Howe said. ''For me, a big goal has always been getting out there and feeling good. Because if you can feel good, then you have your best chances of delivering what you need to do.''

The Americans have not won an Olympic pairs medal since 1988, but they appear to be on an upswing in the discipline. And their top team, national champs Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, isn't even at the Winter Games because the Finish-born Efimova was not able to secure her American citizenship in time, which is one of the requirements of the International Olympic Committee.

''There are some amazing pairs teams within the U.S., and I think that you'll see all three of them at the world championships this year,'' O'Shea said. ''It's awesome, because pairs in the U.S. is very dear to my heart.''

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