China’s world record holders Sui Wenjing and Han Cong turned on another mesmerising performance at the Capital Indoor Stadium to outdance a powerful trio of Russian rivals and take gold in the figure skating pairs competition on Saturday. After soaking up the pressure on Friday to score a world record 84.41 points in the short programme, the pair – partners in real life as well as on the ice – knew they needed to again summon every bone and sinew to perform their free skate to near perfection after the Russians occupied the top three places with only the Chinese duo to go. They also needed heart, passion and determination, and they had those in abundance. Dancing to Bridge Over Troubled Water , the Chinese pair scored a competition-high 155.47 for a total of 239.88 and a narrow victory over Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, whose 155.00 gave them what seemed a winning total of 239.25. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov finished with the bronze on 237.71 while their teammates Aleksandra Boikova and Dimitrii Kozlovskii were edged out of the medal places on 220.50. In fifth were China’s Peng Cheng and Jin Yang on 214.84. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong (People's Republic of China) win the pair skating #Gold medal, becoming the first Chinese #FigureSkating athletes to win a gold medal in this event since 2010! #Beijing2022 | #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/eofaPxmI8i — Olympics (@Olympics) February 19, 2022 Despite Sui making an error on her triple Salchow, the golden pair ended their routine knowing they had given it their all, embracing each other with tears in their eyes as they awaited their scores. It was China’s ninth gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and likely the host nation’s last, though Chinese athletes are set to compete in Sunday’s four-man bobsleigh. Sui and Han, though, gave the country a majestic and heart-rending finale to a medal campaign that has exceeded all expectations. Their performance even touched former US figure skater Adam Rippon, who has almost half a million followers on Twitter. “WOW. The Pairs event was the most perfect way to end this Olympics for figure skating. Started crying halfway through Sui and Han,” he wrote. “Sui Wenjing & Han Cong skate out of a dream to win gold at their home Winter Olympic Games. Congratulations to all the medallists,” the sport’s governing body ISU said in a Twitter posting. Another user wrote: “Do they know??? Do they know how their performance actually saved figure skating in the minds of so many fans?” “I’m tearing up,” a Weibo user wrote. “This is what a strong team looks like. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong are too great. It’s so great having you! With the ninth gold medal, you’ve brought us a beautiful scene.” If double gold medallist Eileen Gu brought glamour and spectacular tricks to the Beijing Games, Sui and Han brought grace, elegance, finesse and incredible athleticism. It was a perfectly scripted curtain call for a Games that kept the world spell bound and announced China’s arrival as a world-class winter sports power. While there was joy for Sui and Han, for Great Britain, a near-century old dream continues to remain unfulfilled. In a tension-packed men’s curling final, they lost 5-4 in an extra end to Niklas Edin and Sweden, who finally became Olympic champions after five world titles and seven European crowns, and fourth, third, and second places at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Games respectively. It was heartbreak for the British silver medallists, who last won curling gold almost a century ago in 1924. Bronze went to Canada after they beat the USA yesterday. Irene Schouten, of the Netherlands, will leave Beijing with three gold medals after clinching victory in speedskating’s mass start event, just edging Canada’s Ivanie Blondin with Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida taking bronze. Bart Swings won the men’s mass start final ahead of Koreans Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon to give Belgium their first Games gold medal since 1948. Also going home with three gold medals is Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov, who won the cross country mass start race that was cut to 30km from 50km because of bad weather. Teammate Ivan Yakimushin took bronze and Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krueger the bronze. New Zealand won their second gold medal of the Winter Games with Nico Porteous finishing top of the men’s freeski half-pipe competition with Americans David Wise and Alex Ferreira taking silver and bronze.