The pair skating of Figure Skating 1988 during the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on 14-16 February 1988 in the Stampede Corral and Olympic Saddledome. With 15 pairs competing, the event was won by Ekaterina Gordeeva and Serguei Grinkov from Soviet Union, with Oleg Vassiliev and Elena Valova from Soviet Union taking the silver medal and Peter Oppegard and Jill Watson from United States taking bronze.
Format[]
The competition exists out of two separate rounds. The first round allows the pairs to perform a routine of a maximum of 2:15 minutes, after which all pairs perform another routine of around 4:30 minutes. The scores are based on the individual rankings of the judges, with each position earning one point. In each round, the pairs are ranked based on these ordinal points. The pair with the fewest classification points after two rounds wins the competition.
Preview[]
Fifteen pairs qualified for the event with the Soviet pairs of the world champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and Oleg Vassiliev, the defending Olympic champions Elena Valova and Oleg Vassiliev, and the defending bronze medalists Larissa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov as the pairs to beat. Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard had won the bronze medal at the most recent world championships, with Denise Benning/Lyndon Johnston and Gillian Wachsman/Todd Waggoner finishing close behind.
| Athlete 1 | Athlete 2 | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Denise Benning | Lyndon Johnston | Canada |
| Isabelle Brasseur | Lloyd Eisler | Canada |
| Christine Hough | Doug Ladret | Canada |
| Mei Zhibin | Li Wei | China |
| Lenka Knapova | Rene Novotny | Czechoslovakia |
| Peggy Schwarz | Alexander Koenig | East Germany |
| Lisa Cushley | Neil Cushley | Great Britain |
| Cheryl Peake | Andrew Naylor | Great Britain |
| Ekaterina Gordeeva | Serguei Grinkov | Soviet Union |
| Larissa Selezneva | Oleg Makarov | Soviet Union |
| Elena Valova | Oleg Vassiliev | Soviet Union |
| Natalie Seybold | Wayne Seybold | United States |
| Gillian Wachsman | Todd Waggoner | United States |
| Jill Watson | Peter Oppegard | United States |
| Brigitte Groh | Holger Maletz | West Germany |
Summary[]
Short Program[]
| Short Program Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Nat. | Athletes | Score | ||
| 1 |  |
Ekaterina Gordeeva | Serguei Grinkov | 9 | |
| 2 | |
Elena Valova | Oleg Vassiliev | 25 | |
| 3 |  |
Jill Watson | Peter Oppegard | 29 | |
| 4 | |
Gillian Wachsman | Todd Waggoner | 44 | |
| 5 |  |
Denise Benning | Lyndon Johnston | 43 | |
| 6 | |
Larissa Selezneva | Oleg Makarov | 54 | |
| 7 | |
Isabelle Brasseur | Lloyd Eisler | 53 | |
| 8 | |
Christine Hough | Doug Ladret | 71 | |
| 9 |  |
Lenka Knapova | Rene Novotny | 85 | |
| 10 | |
Natalie Seybold | Wayne Seybold | 87 | |
| 11 |  |
Peggy Schwarz | Alexander Koenig | 95 | |
| 12 |  |
Cheryl Peake | Andrew Naylor | 110 | |
| 13 |  |
Brigitte Groh | Holger Maletz | 113 | |
| 14 | |
Lisa Cushley | Neil Cushley | 127 | |
| 15 |  |
Mei Zhibin | Li Wei | 134 | |
Free Program[]
| Free Program Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Nat. | Athletes | Score | ||
| 1 | |
Ekaterina Gordeeva | Serguei Grinkov | 9 | |
| 2 | |
Elena Valova | Oleg Vassiliev | 18 | |
| 3 | |
Jill Watson | Peter Oppegard | 31 | |
| 4 | |
Larissa Selezneva | Oleg Makarov | 39 | |
| 5 | |
Gillian Wachsman | Todd Waggoner | 56 | |
| 6 | |
Peggy Schwarz | Alexander Koenig | 59 | |
| 7 | |
Denise Benning | Lyndon Johnston | 52 | |
| 8 | |
Christine Hough | Doug Ladret | 70 | |
| 9 | |
Isabelle Brasseur | Lloyd Eisler | 72 | |
| 10 | |
Natalie Seybold | Wayne Seybold | 87 | |
| 11 | |
Brigitte Groh | Holger Maletz | 103 | |
| 12 | |
Cheryl Peake | Andrew Naylor | 106 | |
| 13 | |
Lisa Cushley | Neil Cushley | 115 | |
| 14 | |
Mei Zhibin | Li Wei | 126 | |
| - | |
Lenka Knapova | Rene Novotny | DNS | |
Results[]
| Result | Athletes | Nationality | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Ekaterina Gordeeva | Serguei Grinkov | Soviet Union | 1.4 |
 |
Elena Valova | Oleg Vassiliev | Soviet Union | 2.8 |
 |
Jill Watson | Peter Oppegard | United States | 4.2 |
| 4 | Larissa Selezneva | Oleg Makarov | Soviet Union | 6.4 |
| 5 | Gillian Wachsman | Todd Waggoner | United States | 6.6 |
| 6 | Denise Benning | Lyndon Johnston | Canada | 9.0 |
| 7 | Peggy Schwarz | Alexander Koenig | East Germany | 10.4 |
| 8 | Christine Hough | Doug Ladret | Canada | 11.2 |
| 9 | Isabelle Brasseur | Lloyd Eisler | Canada | 11.8 |
| 10 | Natalie Seybold | Wayne Weybold | United States | 14.0 |
| 11 | Brigitte Groh | Holger Maletz | West Germany | 16.2 |
| 12 | Cheryl Peake | Andrew Naylor | Great Britain | 16.8 |
| 13 | Lisa Cushley | Neil Cushley | Great Britain | 18.6 |
| 14 | Mei Zhibin | Li Wei | China | 20.0 |
| 15 | Lenka Knapova | Rene Novotny | Czechoslovakia | DNF |
| 1988 Winter Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
| Figure Skating 1988 | |
| ← 1984 | 1992 → |
| Singles | |
| Men | Ladies |
| Pairs | |
| Pair skating | Ice dance |