Pairs Short Program: Group 5 | Olympic Games Vancouver 2010

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Pairs in order of skating:
1. Maria Mukhortova/Maxim Trankov (RUS)
2. Tatiana Volosozhar/Stanislav Morozov (UKR)
3. Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov (RUS)

Pair skating is a figure skating discipline consisting of mixed-sex duos. The International Skating Union (ISU) defines pair skating as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating as compared with independent Single Skating". The ISU also states that a pairs team must consist of "one Lady and one Man". Pair skating, along with men's and women's single skating, has been an Olympic discipline since figure skating, the oldest Winter Olympic sport, was introduced at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. The ISU World Figure Skating Championships introduced pair skating in 1908.

Like the other disciplines, pair skating competitions consist of two segments, the short program and the free skating program. There are seven required elements in the short program, which lasts 2 minutes and 40 seconds for both junior and senior pair teams.

Pair skating required elements include lifts, twist lifts, throw jumps, jumps, spin combinations, death spirals, step sequences, and choreographic sequences. The elements performed by pairs teams must be "linked together by connecting steps of a different nature" and by other comparable movements and with a variety of holds and positions. Pair skaters must only execute the prescribed elements; if they do not, the extra or unprescribed elements will not be counted in their score. Only the first attempt of an element is scored. Violations in pair skating include falls, time, music, and clothing.