Olympic figure skating pairs champions Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot have retired from competition ©Getty Images

Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, who won the 2018 Olympic pairs’ figure skating title for Germany, will not return to competition, according to Savchenko’s social media.

"This was an extremely difficult decision and I’m still fighting myself," the 37-year-old, five-times Olympian posted on Instagram.

"I really love the adrenaline of competitions, pushing myself over the limit and daily practice.

"I personally was hoping to continue our career, but unfortunately some parts of the team are missing!

"To add, the current pandemic has made everything a little bit harder.

"Every day is a new challenge, there are also new opportunities and new chances.

"Thank you to all for your constant support throughout our career together."

Savchenko, born in Ukraine, and Massot, born in France, moved up from fourth place after the Pyeongchang Olympic short programme to take gold with a world record free skate score.

Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, the Olympic figure skating pairs champions, have announced their retirement from competition ©Getty Images
Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, the Olympic figure skating pairs champions, have announced their retirement from competition ©Getty Images

The duo scored 159.31 points in the second part of the competition to give them what proved to be a winning total of 235.90 at the Gangneung Ice Arena.

It beat the score of 157.25 points they had set at the 2017-2018 Grand Prix Final in Nagoya in Japan the previous December.

A month after their Olympic victory they earned the world title, which marked Savchenko’s eleventh world medal, equalling the female record held by Norwegian singles legend Sonja Henie, and her sixth world pairs title.

Alexander Zaitsev of the Soviet Union stands level with Savchenko in terms of world pairs titles, and they are joint second in the all-time list behind Irina Rodnina of the Soviet Union, who won ten consecutive world pairs titles from 1969 to 1978. 

In the spring of 2018 the pair announced an indefinite break from competition.

Massot moved back to his home town of Caen to start a coaching school.

Savchenko had daughter Amilia in September 2019 and is also coaching, currently working with pairs teams in Monument, Colorado.

China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the Olympic silver medallists, succeeded the Germans as the world’s top pair, but at last month’s World Championships, Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov became the youngest pairs’ world champions since Katia Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov in 1989.