CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Ami Nakai and Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto upstaged Alysa Liu and the rest of the “Blade Angels” from the U.S. to take the lead after the short program in the women’s figure skating competition at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday.

Japan won its first Olympic pairs gold and Georgia earned its first Winter Games medal at Milan Cortina 2026, rewriting figure skating history.

This kind of surprise ending happens now and then in figure skating, when pairs or singles not even in the last group leapfrog others to win gold.