Young skaters Zhang and Huang secure China a place at Milano-Cortina 2026

China's march in figure skating pairs is expected to continue at Milano-Cortina 2026 after young skaters Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang secured the country a quota place for the games at the qualifying event on home ice.

Virtually unknown to the skating world's elite level, Zhang and Huang made a strong impression at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating Qualifier by executing their short program and free skate nearly flawlessly to top the final standings and earn the country a qualification berth in pairs at next year's Winter Olympics.

The Chinese pair scored a field-high 124.84 points from its free-skate performance on Saturday afternoon, building on its 66.68-point short program on Friday to finish first with a total of 191.52 points among 11 teams in the field at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium.

Armenian skaters Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin finished second in 186.84 points, only 1.18 points ahead of third-placed Japanese team Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi, who both have qualified for the 2026 Games as well, finishing within the top three at the Beijing qualifier.

The Beijing event offers the last chance for skaters, who are not yet qualified for the Milano-Cortina Games, to go for the remaining qualification spots for February's Winter Games, with the majority of the tickets having been snatched up at the world championships in Boston in March.

A total of 17 quota spots are up for grabs in Beijing: five each in men's singles and women's singles, three in pairs, and four in ice dance.

Zhang and Huang, the fifth-placed pair at the world junior championships in February, took pride from their first major showing at the elite international level that mattered a lot for the sport in their country.