Germans take home surprise gold medal in Olympic pairs after stunning display

The Germans Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot won the Olympic pairs’ figure skating gold by less than half a point, with a breathtaking long program performance.

The Pyeonchang Olympics were the fifth time around for Aljona Savchenko, who had previously won bronze twice with different partners. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China were the overwhelming favorites, sitting in first place with a major points lead after the short program Wednesday night. But once Savchenko and Massot glided onto the ice in a flawless performance, the audience’s standing ovation was an indication of who should go home with the gold.

The Germans’ long program was not only completely mistake-free, it was gorgeously executed in stunning fashion, the only free skate to move the audience at the Gangneung Ice Arena to their feet. When they finished, both skaters collapsed on the ice and embraced while crying.

Because of the points lead that the Chinese owned (who were yet to skate), the Germans were sure that they skated the best performance of the night, but was it good enough to overcome the points build-up that Wenjing and Cong came into the free skate with?

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China skated an exciting program set with dramatic finesse to “Nessun Dorma,” but two slight mistakes cost their points lead. With a world record 159.31 in the free skate, Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot overpowered the Chinese, who won the silver.

The Canadian due of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford — who won with the team gold a few days ago — came into the long program in third place, capturing the bronze with a captivating performance that contained a few minor hiccups.

The married American team of Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim landed a quad twist in the free skate, but with two falls by Knierim and a shaky performance overall, the pair finished 15^th with a total score of 185.82.

The rest of the standings were as follows: