Six days after their two clutch programs helped lead Team USA to a hard-fought gold medal in the figure skating team event of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea returned to the Milano Ice Skating Arena to turn in a season's best performance and place seventh in the individual pairs short program with 71.87 points.

Their teammates, Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, also landed in the top 10, earning 70.06 for a near-clean program and ninth place. 

"… I'm proud of the program today," O'Shea said. "I'm a little disappointed in myself. I left some points out there with some levels that I normally don't do. Three Level 3s is not usual for me, so I'm a little annoyed at myself for that. But at the end of the day, I think that the performance itself is something we're proud of. We stayed on our feet, got rid of those bigger mistakes and got a season's-best [score]."

The Colorado Springs, Colorado based skaters, who won silver at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, thrilled the crowd with a sensitive and lyrical program to k.d. lang's rendition of "Hallelujah" choreographed by their coach, Drew Meekins.

After opening with a Level 4 triple twist, they reeled off side-by-side triple Salchows and a throw triple loop, with Kam touching a hand down on the landing. The highlight of the program came near the end: a spectacular Axel lasso lift that flew around the ice and generated a program-high 8.86 points.

"I would like to think that we have some of the best lifts in the entire world," O'Shea said at the 2026 U.S. Championships. "Thankfully, we score like that very often. And it's amazing because lifts are often like the quads of pairs skating, right? You get a ton of points for your lifts when they're done well. So, it's helped us a lot in our career."

Kam, 21, is the youngest U.S. Olympic pairs skater since 2014 (Felicia Zhang, 20). O'Shea, 35, is the oldest U.S. Olympic pairs skater since 1932 (Joseph Savage, 52) and the oldest figure skater from any country to make an Olympic debut since 1948.

O'Shea, who before clinching a title with Kam in 2024 won the 2016 U.S. pairs crown with Tarah Kayne, teamed up with Kam, a former singles skater with only a few months of pairs experience, in September 2022. They quickly became one of the nation's top pairs teams, and were monumental in qualifying two pairs entries for these Olympic Games and three spots for the 2026 World Championships.

If the results from the short program hold, the United States would have two teams finish in the top 10 for the second straight Olympic Winter Games.

"I'm so proud of what pairs in the U.S. have been doing," O'Shea said. "At the last Olympics, Alexa [Knierim] and Brandon [Frazier] did great and they really opened doors for us. That was part of the reason we started skating together was that there were three spots for that Worlds … We [qualified], and we've been to Worlds each year since then. We really hope to keep that tradition going. There's some amazing pairs teams within the U.S. and I think we'll see all three of them at Worlds this year. It's awesome because pairs in the U.S. is very dear to my heart. I've been doing it for a while, and I love to be a part of the trend upward."

In their Olympic debut, Chan and Howe skated a polished and expressive short to the Spanish-themed "Nyah" by CH2, landing fine side-by-side triple toe loops and gaining top levels for their opening triple twist, as well as their step sequence, pairs spin and reverse lasso lift. While Chan lightly touched a hand down on the ice in landing a throw triple loop, it did not impact the flow and elegance of their program, and they earned a solid 70.06 points.

"I felt laser-focused out there; we were communicating with each other, not just verbally but also physically throughout that program and just able to execute and mesh well throughout it," Akira Howe said. "For me a big goal has always been to go out and feel good. If you can feel good, then you have the best chance of delivering what you need to do."

"It was a bit of a sigh of relief and just excitement that we did it," Chan added. "We went out and threw it together and experienced that whole entire program together. I just felt on top of the mountain."

The two-week wait to compete since arriving in Milan, Akira Howe said, tested the team's patience.

"For us, to start it's a very unusual experience to be in one place for so long and then compete a couple of weeks later," he said. "We have had to just take every day one day at a time, focus on our training, set goals; the anticipation was getting to both of us a little bit these last couple weeks but just getting out there felt so good. I felt so focused out there and I know Emily did, too, because we were right there next to each other trying to execute these elements."

The Boston-based skaters, who teamed up in 2019, earned the pewter medal at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. During the 2022-23 season, they won the U.S. silver medal and placed fifth at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships, but their momentum was slowed by several injuries, including Howe's torn shoulder labrum, which required surgical repair in May 2023. With one of their best-ever short programs here in Milan, they seem to have recaptured their form and spirit.

"This season was the first season we've been able to stay really healthy," Chan said at the 2026 U.S. Championships. "There have been some small [injuries] we've been able to take care of relatively quickly and continue our training. That was important, not stopping and just being able to work with what we have. That was definitely a big game changer this season."

The pairs free skate is set for Monday at 2 p.m. ET.

For full results and to follow Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games, including the full schedule, bios, news and more, visit the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Competition Central.