Winter Olympics 2022 - Sui Wenjing and Han Cong delight Chinese crowd to win pairs figure skating gold

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong finally fulfilled their potential to become Winter Olympic figure skating champions with the tightest of victories in the pairs competition in Beijing.

In front of a delighted but reduced home crowd, the Chinese couple beat Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov by just 0.63 points. Across the short program and free skate, barely anything separated the pairs throughout, but the Chinese - who set a world record on Friday - just edged it.

World and European champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov took bronze for the Russian Olympic Committee.

Sui and Han had wowed the Chinese crowd on Friday with a second world record performance in a single Games, thanks to their stunning short program, but Tarasova and Morozov produced the second best performance ever and were lurking behind, waiting to capitalise on any slip-ups.

Realistically it was a three-way fight for the medals, with world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov third.

With seven pairs to go, it was down to the group who were within 10 points of the leaders. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, the first openly non-binary Winter Olympian, took to the ice, but Cain-Gribble got off to a poor start, falling during a triple loop and then again following a combination which started with a triple salchow.

It was not enough to go top of the leaderboard and their American team-mates Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were next up, looking to finish well after contributing to team silver at the start of the Games.The couple looked like they were enjoying every moment of their routine and despite faltering with a triple salchow, Knierim nailed a triple throw flip to go top temporarily to secure a top six finish.

Just as they did in the short program, the small crowd inside the Capital Indoor Arena raised the noise level as the first of the Chinese pairs, Peng Cheng and Jin Yang, made their entrance. The two of them stunned during that, but Peng failed to land her opening triple salchow, which was downgraded to a double. The performance was full of emotion and they were particularly impressive for a throw triple salchow and it took them top, for now.

The final group of four was where the medals were going to come from, but for world bronze medallists Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii to get on the podium, it would take a huge slip up from those above them. They needed to take care of their own performance first and had to be perfect. But Boikova was not able to land a throw triple loop and their chances looked to be over.

World and European champions Mishina and Galliamov were not out of it, but Mishina almost went down for a throw triple flip, recovering well to avoid a tumble. “Faultless” said Eurosport commentator Simon Reed, “technically that was superb” added Chris Howarth, who represented GB at the 1980 Games. The Russians easily went top to assure themselves a place on the podium, laying down the gauntlet to their ROC team-mates.

With Kamila Valieva’s controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze on their team, Tarasova and Morozov began their routine but Tarasova did not cleanly land her opening jump. Judges were lighting up the scoreboard with green though, and part of her coaching team were in tears after completing what Reed described as “beautiful”. “I have never seen these two put two programs together back-to-back like that - sensational,” said Howarth. It assured them at least silver.

It was all down to Sui and Han, the only pair to put a quad lift in their routine. Dancing to Bridge Over Troubled Water, it was the opening element and they nailed it, meaning a clean routine would surely hand them the title. Sui had to work hard to hold on to a toe loop combination, but that she did. Sui was unable to complete a triple salchow - “they can’t afford one more mistake” said Reed, but they responded with a huge throw triple flip. They finished brilliantly with a highest difficulty reverse lasso lift, and then came the tears.

“It’s absolutely on a knife edge” said Reed, as the Chinese crowd held their breath while they waited for the score - but they got the news they wanted, and the hosts were awarded a second ever gold medal in Olympic figure skating, cueing emotional celebrations.

- - -

The Olympic Games will return with Paris 2024, live on Eurosport and discovery+