Kavaguti/Smirnov competed in their first Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. They were 3rd after the short program with a season's best score of 74.16, only 2.5 points behind the 1st place team of Shen/Zhao. During the warm-up the pair was told by their coach not to attempt the quad throw. The first throw was a triple salchow; Kavaguti put her hand down and stumbled coming out of the jump. Smirnov stepped out of the double Axel and because there was no speed to complete the second Axel, the pair didn't complete the sequence. Kavaguti fell on the final throw dislocating her shoulder. The pair continued but failed to achieve full levels on many of the elements. Although they were in 1st place, there were still three pairs left to skate. They placed 4th overall. They were the highest placing Russian pair skaters.