--- title: Olympics Photo: German Figure Skating Pair Celebrates Gold description: Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot collapsed on the ice after their performance in one of the happiest photos of the 2018 Winter Olympics. canonical: https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-15T15:01:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:39.545Z og:title: See Germany's Gold Medal-Winning Skating Pair Collapse on the Ice og:description: It's one of the most triumphant photos of the 2018 Winter Olymipcs og:url: https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4287d16efc3c7811/698927b78fd2ee82da35ab69/gettyimages-918482870.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 6 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Germany's Gold Medal-Winning Skating Pair Collapse on the Ice twitter:description: It's one of the most triumphant photos of the 2018 Winter Olymipcs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4287d16efc3c7811/698927b78fd2ee82da35ab69/gettyimages-918482870.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See the Moment the Highest-Scoring Figure Skating Pair of All Time Collapsed in Happiness by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 15, 2018 3:01 PM UTC  GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 15: Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany react after their performance during the Figure Skating Pair Skating Free Program on day six of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 15, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images) GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 15: Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany react after their performance during the Figure Skating Pair Skating Free Program on day six of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 15, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)Jean Catuffe—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 15, 2018 3:01 PM UTC [Germany’s figure skating pair](http://time.com/5159775/olympics-2018-germany-ice-skaters-first-gold/) capped off a supercharged gold medal performance by falling. On purpose. As soon as Germany’s Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot finished the performance that set a new record for the highest score of all time [for the pairs long program](http://time.com/5139060/olympic-figure-skating-pyeongchang-guide/), they collapsed in triumph. It also marked the first time in more than 50 years that [Germany took home a gold](http://time.com/5159775/olympics-2018-germany-ice-skaters-first-gold/) in pairs figure skating. The energetic and teary-eyed duo set an emotional tone early on. But it was the final moment, when cameras captured Savchenko falling into a loose embrace with her partner after the duo’s outsize performance, that was the most breathtaking. Achieving that 159.31 score was one of the most impressive feats of 2018 Winter Olympics so far, and it was a long time coming for the skaters. Savchenko skated in five Olympic Games for two different countries and with three different partners before tasting this victory. This time, after earning two bronze medals at previous Olympics with a different partner, Savchenko finally got her first gold. “I never give up. I keep fighting,” she told TIME. Watch their final moment below. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/963989456180076544) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/"},"headline":"See the Moment the Highest-Scoring Figure Skating Pair of All Time Collapsed in Happiness","datePublished":"2018-02-15T15:01:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:50:39.545Z","description":"Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot collapsed on the ice after their performance in one of the happiest photos of the 2018 Winter Olympics.","url":"https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Winter Olympics","2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4287d16efc3c7811/698927b78fd2ee82da35ab69/gettyimages-918482870.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4287d16efc3c7811/698927b78fd2ee82da35ab69/gettyimages-918482870.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 6","caption":"Figure Skating - Winter Olympics Day 6","creditText":"Jean Catuffe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5160080/german-figure-skating-pair-photo/","name":"See the Moment the Highest-Scoring Figure Skating Pair of All Time Collapsed in Happiness"}}]}] ```