Chinese duo defends pairs skating title at Four Continents

By Joo Kyung-don

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- Chinese figure skating tandem Sui Wenjing and Han Cong defended their pairs skating title at an International Skating Union (ISU) competition here on Saturday.

Sui and Han had a total segment score of 144.28 points in the pairs free skating at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul. The couple entered the free skating competition as the top-ranked team after collecting 80.75 in the short program at Gangneung Ice Arena on Thursday.

Their combined score of 225.03 was enough to beat Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, two-time world championships winners who scored 212.23. The Chinese pair has now won four Four Continents titles. They previously won the honors in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Another Canadian team of Liubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch was third at 205.31. The two set their personal best in the free at 132.27.

Chinese duo Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao, who were second after the short program with 75.20 points, ended up in fourth place after scoring only 128.20 in the free.

Kim Su-yeon and Kim Hyung-tae had the best result among South Koreans as they finished 12th among 15 teams with a total score of 140.68. In their first ISU championship event, the pair posted their personal best score in free skating with 90.80 points, surpassing their previous record by 12.50.

Ji Min-ji and Themistocles Leftheris were 14th at 129.19, followed by Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan who finished last at 118.91.

The Four Continents, open to non-European athletes, will have the women's free skating later Saturday.

The ISU competition is one of the test events for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. It is also the first international figure skating event held at Gangneung Ice Arena, the venue for figure skating and short track speed skating at the PyeongChang Games.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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