Georgian Figure Skaters Performed a Mortal Kombat Tribute at the Winter Olympics and It Rules

Nobody had "Mortal Kombat on ice at the Olympics" on their 2026 bingo card. And yet, here we are.

Georgian figure skaters Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava closed out the figure skating programme at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics with one of the most unexpectedly brilliant moments the Games have produced in years. At the Exhibition Gala on Saturday, a non-competitive end-of-event showcase where skaters perform without scores or medals on the line, the pair took to the ice dressed as Kitana and Sub-Zero. Backed by The Immortals' Techno Syndrome from the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, they traded fake punches, bounced around like idle-state fighters, and worked genuine MK moves into their choreography.

The whole thing is as good as it sounds. Metelkina sells the Kitana look, Berulava commits fully to Sub-Zero, and the fight choreography mapped onto actual figure skating technique is genuinely impressive. At one point, Berulava grabs Metelkina's leg and spins her at length before setting her down in the classic dazed "Finish Her" stance. No fatality follows. Instead, he opts for a Friendship.

Friendship. At the Olympics. Beautiful.

The routine actually ends with Metelkina turning the tables and performing Sonya Blade's kiss of death finisher, earning herself the flawless victory. Honestly? Deserved.

What makes this land so well beyond the gimmick is context. Metelkina and Berulava weren't just messing around for a laugh. Earlier in the week, the pair won a silver medal in the pairs figure skating competition, finishing behind Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara. More than that, it was the first medal Georgia has ever won at a Winter Olympics. Full stop. After making history for their country, the Exhibition Gala was their moment to just enjoy themselves, and they spent it playing Mortal Kombat on ice.

The routine isn't entirely new, for what it's worth. The pair have performed this same programme before, including at the ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo last year. But seeing it at an Olympic venue, fresh off a history-making silver, hits different.

Fan response online has been exactly what you'd expect. Clips went viral almost immediately after Saturday's performance, with reactions ranging from stunned to full-on delighted. One post from user TheeSycoTik on X asked "Did this win gold? Because it should have." Hard to argue.

Metelkina, speaking to Olympics.com ahead of the Games, put it plainly: "It's good that we can show our different sides and that we're not a pair that skates the same type of programs. I think this is very valuable and we should do this whenever we can." If their Exhibition Gala performance is anything to go by, they mean it.

This wasn't the only time gaming culture showed up at the Olympics this weekend either. Kotaku reports that Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, who won gold in the men's figure skating, performed as Kung Fu Panda during the same Gala, doing a bit of sparring with Deadpool and Sub-Zero before, apparently, farting on them. The arena of champions, indeed.

The full routine is worth your time. Go watch it.