In the reality show event of the Winter Olympics, Australia’s pair has survived

In the reality television show of Olympic figure skating’s ice dance, Australian duo Holly Harris and Jason Chan have remained on the island, or the rink in this case.

Holly and Jason – they use first names in ice dance pairs, as with The Bachelor or Married At First Sight – will skate on into the competition’s next phase, the free skate, after a performance that satisfied rather than delighted the skaters and avoided the cut.

“If we didn’t, we’d be disappointed,” said Harris, who said making the rhythm dance was their “overarching goal”.

“We have met what we set out to do. I don’t think that the scores are exactly what we were hoping for but that’s out of our control.”

Harris and Chan knew they were through to the final when they spoke a few minutes after their routine, even though there were more than 15 couples yet to skate, including several higher-ranked couples who skated later.

How so? The rhythm round involved 23 pairs, which is cut to 20 for the free dance. The Australians had only to best three rivals to be assured of making the last dance, their 67.75 placing them at 18th. Good enough.

If you’re wondering why a sport would hold an entire evening’s skating and cut only three pairs from 23, an American official speculated to this masthead that the motive was entertainment. “Probably for TV.”

Music, like fashion, is at the forefront of the entertainment. On this evening, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez were the artists of choice, accompanying several pairs, and George Michael’s Freedom was deployed by two couples. The edgier Georgians skated to Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) and Come Out And Play by Californian punk band The Offspring.

Harris and Chan went for J-Lo, too, opening with Waiting For Tonight, a fitting description of their passage to the Olympics, the first Australians to do so since 2014 at Sochi.

High tempo is what the judges like. “The judges are asking for high energy, upbeat music,” said Chan, who transferred from Canada to become Australian and dance with Harris, a Sydney-raised skater who was taught by Christopher Dean, the male half of Britain’s Torvill and Dean partnership that put this genre of figure skating into hundreds of millions living rooms in 1984.

The most unexpected moment of the competition came early when Swedish pair Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov kissed (with tongue) upon completion of their skate – only for a few seconds, but enough to suggest they weren’t merely Coldplaying on the ice.

The clubhouse leaders were the stylish French pair of Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beadry, just ahead of Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, with Canadian and British skaters rounding out the first four.

Harris acknowledged she had entered this evening with some jitters. “I was nervous, which I always am. But I had this inner calm ... I really prepared for this.”

The Australians, who have been skating together since 2019, met their benchmark, and remained on the rink. It wasn’t their last dance.

The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.

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