POPSUGAR UK

Team China's Unreal Skating Routine (and Quad Twist) Is Flawless — and Death Defying

13/02/2018 - 11:40 PM

Sui Wenjing [1] and Han Cong of Team China won a gold medal at the 2017 Cup of China with this pairs figure skating routine, and they're bringing their on-fire, gold-winning, borderline-aggressively-perfect performance to Pyeongchang. Because Team China ain't messin' around, y'all. Just look at their faces at 0:38. Does it look like they're here to play? No. No, it does not.

Set to the classic and powerful opera song "Turandot" performed by Luciano Pavarotti (you'll recognize it when you hear it, trust us), the only thing more moving than the stunning vibrato of Pavarotti's Italian vocals is Wenjing and Cong's smoldering performance.

There are a list of mandated moves in pairs skating for the Olympics [3], such as overhead lifts, death spirals (yes, that's actually the name of a move) [4], twist lifts, and throw jumps. For twist lifts, pairs are required either a double or triple rotation (as in, the woman is launched in the air and rotates twice or thrice before her partner catches her — gracefully, of course). Just to be really extra, Sui and Han pulled off a quadruple twist. See 1:06 for reference. Try to control your shrieks.

Though China is favored for gold at this event, Team Germany will be hungry for gold this year [5] — and they were right on the heels of China's gold medal win, taking silver at the 2017 World Championships. So despite having a completely jaw-dropping routine and a literal death spiral (and that quad twist, obvi) on lock, they'll have to be on their ultimate A-game come finals at these 2018 Winter Games. And you know where we'll be — eyes glued to the TV, popcorn in hand. Let the games begin!


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fitness/Sui-Wenjing-Han-Cong-Team-China-Pairs-Skating-Routine-2018-44581840