Winter Olympics 2022 - Chinese figure skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong amaze again for new pairs world record

Chinese figure skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong produced the greatest ever pairs short program to take the lead after one event at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. They smashed their previous world record, set less than two weeks ago in the team competition, by 1.58 points to finish on 84.41.

The level of competition was huge, as the Russian Olympic Committee’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov almost matched them and sit just 0.16 behind ahead of the free skate. Ad/> World champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov are third, 1.49 points off their fellow Russians.

/> Beijing 2022'They have slaughtered their own world record' — China's Sui and Han celebrate37 MINUTES AGO There was a different feel to the competition after the Games were dominated by the Kamila Valieva controversy, but her controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze’s involvement with one of the pairs meant there could not be a focus solely on the routines. The top 16 pairs would go through to the free skate on Saturday and with a Hungarian couple withdrawing, there would only be an unlucky two to miss out.

Buoyed by winning team silver for the US — which may turn out to be gold depending on decisions made around Valieva and the winning ROC team — Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier smashed their routine, achieving maximum points on every one of their seven elements which included a brilliantly executed triple twist lift 4. «This is unbelievable” said Eurosport commentator and 1980 Olympian Chris Howarth, and the pair were rewarded with a score of 74.23 to take a big lead after the first group of skaters.

It set a marker which would prove difficult to beat. The second group failed to provide a pair who would go above them, with only Japan’s Riku Miura