U.S. leads in figure skating team event, China in top 3 before last short program

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States took the lead and host China saw its chance of qualifying for the free skate, as the figure skating team event got underway here in the Capital Indoor Stadium on Friday at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Three-time world champion Nathan Chen and veteran ice dancing couple Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue both finished on top in their respective short programs.

Their fellow Americans Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier finished third in the pairs to secure the U.S. a leading position with the score of 28 points.

Olympic athletes from Russia were ranked second with 26 points, with reigning pairs world champions Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov and ice dancers Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov both on the second and Mark Kondratiuk third in the men's singles.

Thanks to medal hopeful Sui Wenjing/Han Cong's top-class performance, China edged onto the third place with 21 points, beating Japan into fourth by one point, though Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno landed a nearly perfect short program to finish second.

Skating to a Mission Impossible 2 Orchestra Suite, Sui/Han, the 2018 Olympic silver medalists and two-time world champions, delivered a side-by-side triple toeloop, and threw triple flip and triple twist in a Flamenco-themed program, setting 82.83 points to top the pairs short program.

Other Chinese skaters also took the rink as Jin Boyang sat on the sixth in the men's singles, and Wang Shiyue/Liu Xinyu finished fifth in the ice dancing rhythm dance.

Among the 10 teams representing their respective National Olympic Committees in the team event at Beijing 2022, results of the women's singles short program competitions, slated here on Sunday morning, will decide which five teams qualify for free skating.

The figure skating team event competition was introduced to the Olympic program at Sochi 2014 and featured again during PyeongChang 2018 with China having failed to qualify for the free skates twice.