Reigning world champions Tatiana Totmianina/Maxim Marinin of Russia secured their domination in the pairs figure skating as they beat three Chinese pairs to take the gold medal in the Winter Olympics on Monday.

In an exciting free skate at a high level, the Russians beat Zhang Dan/Zhao Hao by 14.75 points. Two Zhangs' silver is the best finish by Chinese figure skaters in the Olympic history.

Totmianina/Maxim, two-time world champions, turned in a powerful routine to Reomo and Juliet, hitting a triple salchow followed by a triple toeloop and double toeloop.

They also put a nice throw triple loop and a superb pair combination spin, as well as a backward inside death spiral. The top-ranked pair this season scored 135.84 points (69.51 in technical score and 66.33 in component) in the free skate, totaling 204.48 points with 68.64 in the short program.

Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao, ranked third this season, was drawn to skate last. The young pair looked focused when they took to the ice and were into a passionate mood of their program to "The Offspring of Dragons".

The couple tried to open with an unbelievable throw quadruple salchow, in which no skaters have ever succeeded in international competitions, but failed.

Zhang hurt her knee when she fell and slid to the board. After a short break, the pair continued, and produced a double axel and triple toeloop. They also hit a triple twist, a backward outside death spiral as well as a throw triple loop.

They scored 125.01 points (66.19/59.82) for their second Olympic appearance. With 64.72 points in the short program, they finally clinched the silver with a total of 189.73 points.

At the 2002 Winter Games, Chinese pair Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo tried the throw quadruple salchows in the free skate, but Shen failed to land properly, a mistake that left them in third place.

Shen and Zhao won the world title in 2002 and 2003. They took silver at the 2004 worlds and withdrew from the 2005 event because Zhao suffered an Achilles' tendon injury.

Shen/Zhao only returned to competition after missing the whole season. They produced a good a triple toeloop and double toeloop in the program to Madame Butterfly, followed by graceful triple twist and nice throw triple loop.

Shen/Zhao, who finished fifth in the short program, also nailed a double axel and a fluent pair combination spin and backward outside death spiral.

They posted 124.59 points (62.24/62.35)for their free skate and totaled 186.91 for the bronze.

"I am very happy and very satisfied. We just had two months to prepare for the Olympics due to injury. We did everything we could, " said Shen.

"The injury hasn't fully recovered. Being here to skate makes me very happy," said Zhao.

Another Chinese pair Pang Qing/Tong Jian was fourth with 186.67 points.

Source: Xinhua