Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud couldn’t replicate their short-program magic in the pairs free skate on Monday at the Winter Olympics.
Sitting third after a personal-best short program, the Canadians fell short of the podium and finished eighth in their Olympic debut.
After a strong start to the free skate, both skaters missed elements, dropping them down the leaderboard.
Pereira and Michaud were big underdogs after finishing 11th at the world championships last year. They surprised many by winning the Canadian championships last month.
Meanwhile, fellow Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps finished 11th.
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Stellato-Dudek, 42, is Canada’s oldest Olympian this year. She ended a 16-year absence from the sport in 2016, starting her pairs career after injuries derailed her singles run in the U.S.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps withdrew from the team competition earlier in the Olympics after Stellato-Dudek suffered a head injury in training.
Two-time world champs and 2022 Olympic silver medallists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won gold after finishing fifth in the short program. The pair has trained in Oakville, Ont. since 2019.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava took silver for Georgia’s first-ever Winter Olympic medal, while Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won bronze.