Winter Olympics: magical China pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong ‘skate out of a dream’ to give hosts ninth gold medal
- The world record holders soaked up the pressure to complete a mesmerising routine and overcome a power trio of Russian rivals for pairs figure skating gold
- After putting on a display of passion, finesse and majesty, the pair eyes filled with tears as they hugged each other on the ice
China’s world record holders Sui Wenjing and Han Cong turned on another mesmerising performance at the Capital Indoor Stadium to outdance a powerful trio of Russian rivals and take gold in the figure skating pairs competition on Saturday.
After soaking up the pressure on Friday to score a world record 84.41 points in the short programme, the pair – partners in real life as well as on the ice – knew they needed to again summon every bone and sinew to perform their free skate to near perfection after the Russians occupied the top three places with only the Chinese duo to go.
They also needed heart, passion and determination, and they had those in abundance. Dancing to Bridge Over Troubled Water, the Chinese pair scored a competition-high 155.47 for a total of 239.88 and a narrow victory over Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, whose 155.00 gave them what seemed a winning total of 239.25.
Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov finished with the bronze on 237.71 while their teammates Aleksandra Boikova and Dimitrii Kozlovskii were edged out of the medal places on 220.50. In fifth were China’s Peng Cheng and Jin Yang on 214.84.
Despite Sui making an error on her triple Salchow, the golden pair ended their routine knowing they had given it their all, embracing each other with tears in their eyes as they awaited their scores.