Gold medalists Sui Wenjing (R)/Han Cong of China celebrate after the figure skating pairs victory at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)
China's two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong lead both short program and free skate to claim the figure skating pairs title at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong claimed the figure skating pairs title at the Beijing Winter Olympics here on Saturday.
Sui/Han led both short program and free skate, collecting 239.88 points in total for the victory, which was the ninth gold for Team China at Beijing 2022.
"It's a great pride for figure skating, and a brilliant performance of the Chinese pair," commented Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Sui/Han who missed the top honor at PyeongChang 2018 by a mere margin of 0.43 points in South Korea, finally fulfilled their dream on home soil to become China's second Olympic champion pair after Shen Yue and Zhao Hongbo awarded China its first Olympic gold in figure skating at Vancouver 2010.
Sui Wenjing (L)/Han Cong of China perform during the figure skating pair skating free skating of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)
"I accepted what has given to me from the world, because I think everything has its rightful place," Sui said.
"We wish to deliver the strength through our performance to all people to come together and go through all difficulties together," explained Han, who expressed gratitude for the support from Sui and his team.
Skating to "Bridge Over Troubled Water," the pair landed a rare quadruple twist lift in their routine, an overhead throw which no other competitors attempted.
"The quadruple twist lift was the key to their victory," analyzed Zhao, adding that he is really proud of the pair.
Eugenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) took the silver on 239.25 and reigning European and world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of ROC bagged the bronze on 237.71.
"We've been working for years to get this medal, so just to get it means a lot to us," said Morozov, the silver medalist.
The other Chinese pair Peng Cheng and Jin Yang, runners-up of the 2020 Four Continents Championships, finished fifth in 214.84. ■
