The German pair skating hopefuls Minerva-Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin made it onto the podium at the Grand Prix final in Nagoya, Japan, thanks to a fabulous freestyle. After the incorrect short program on Thursday, the European champions secured third place with a total of 221.25 points.
With 149.57 points, Hase/Volodin achieved the best routine of their career and of the six final couples. For the first time in the Olympic season, the Berlin duo remained without errors in their program to the music of Max Richter and thus gained a lot of self-confidence for the highlight of the season. The victory went to the Japanese world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (225.21 points) ahead of the World Cup third place Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii from Italy (223.28).
In the Grand Prix final in Japan, Hase and Volodin actually wanted to repeat their victories from 2023 and 2024. But in the short program on Thursday, Hase made a mistake and only jumped the planned triple Salchow; the two 26-year-olds were only fifth at halftime.
The German championships in Oberstdorf (December 8th to 13th) are a week away, before a medal is on the line at the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (February 6th to 22nd, 2026).