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Olympic Figure Skating Pair From China Breaks World Record

Chinese Figure Skating Pair Break a World Record at the Winter Games

Olympic Figure Skating Pair From China Breaks World Record
Image Source: Getty / David Ramos

The pairs short program at the Winter Olympics was dominated by figure skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China. After falling half a point short of gold in Pyeongchang, the duo set the bar high in Beijing with a score of 84.41, taking the world record back from Russian pair Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov.

Sui and Han took the ice after Tarasova and Morozov earned a score of 84.25 — which broke the world record of 82.83, set by Sui and Han in the teams event on Feb. 4. "The drama of skating after their rivals, [Sui and Han] need perfection in this short program. They have the edge in the artistic scores, so they have to sell it," commentator and former Olympian Tara Lipinski said at the start of the skate. The intense energy from the pair was palpable through the screen as they skated, in unison, to the song "Mission Impossible 2 Orchestra Suite" by Hans Zimmer.

Sui and Han cleanly executed elements during their skate that other pairs had difficulty landing. The big throw triple flip, in particular, had commentator Terry Gannon say "wow" after Sui's stumble-free landing. The pair also received level four (the highest level) in five of the seven elements they executed.

"They skate as an extension of one another, which makes their skating feel so smooth, so velvety . . . like they're skating as one person," commentator and former Olympian Johnny Weir said after their skate. "Impeccable, impeccable skating." Ahead, view a celebratory tweet from the Games's Twitter for Sui and Han's world record, along with captivating moments from their skate.

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