Chinese duo set record score at Grand Prix of Figure Skating

BySportsbeat

Published 11/11/2017 at 14:26 GMT

World champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han blitzed their way to gold and set a record pairs free skating score in the process as they dominated the Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Osaka.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

The Chinese duo impressed with their quad twist and triple toe-double as they also collected a level four for their lifts, pair spin and death spiral.

Their stunning performance saw the gold medallists pick up 155.10 points in the NHK Trophy, surpassing the previous highest score in the competition of 154.66 set by Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov four years ago.

"We skated in a relaxed was and we performed as we can do in training and showed what we have worked hard for," Sui said.

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"However, there is still room for improvement and we are looking forward to doing better next time."

Han added: "I didn't even realize that we have a new record score. Maybe it will sink in later that we have achieved something big like that."

Russia's Olympic silver medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov came in second with Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov, also from Russia, placing in third.

World champion Evgenia Madvedeva overcame a nasty fall to storm to her second Grand Prix gold medal in the ladies free skating.

The Russian fell on her opening triple flip and stepped out of the landing on the triple lutz.

But the two-time world champion's triple flip-triple toe-loop and triple salchow-triple toe-loop combination helped her to 144.40 points and an overall score of 224.39.

Madvedeva beat five-time European champion Carolina Kostner and compatriot Polina Tsurskaya but admitted she was far from happy with her performance.

"I am not satisfied with my free skating but I am glad that I did my triple flip-triple toe combination in the second half of my programme," she said.

"That was the best part of my programme. My main goal is always trying to do my best, not only for the result, but first of all for my soul."

Meanwhile 2010 Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir continued to show their class in the short dance as they extended their lead over pairs Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte.

The Canadians, who sealed their seventh Skate Canada international title last month, picked up 80.92 points on the second day of competition, leaving them four points clear of Hubbell and Donohue.

"We had a quick week turnaround from Skate Canada to here, so we had to be strategic about the improvements we wanted to make in each programme," Virtue said.

"It certainly was a step forward in a lot of the elements and we are pleased with the attack that we had and with our technical proficiency."

Sportsbeat 2017

Figure Skating