HARBIN, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Figure skating Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong claimed the pairs title at the National Figure Skating Championships here on Saturday, while two-time Olympians Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu took the ice dance crown.

Sui and Han led both the short program and free skate, finishing with a total of 237.57 points to secure the victory. It was their second competition since returning to the ice more than three years after their Olympic triumph.

At the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China in October, Sui and Han finished third in their comeback debut, ranking first among all Chinese pairs.

Guo Rui/Zhang Yiwen and Zhang Jiaxuan/Huang Yihang won silver and bronze, respectively.

The Beijing Winter Olympic gold medalists Sui/Han scored 151.60 points in the free skate to music from the Chinese dance drama "A Tapestry of a Legendary Land." Despite a few early mistakes, the pair quickly settled into their performance and finished first in the segment.

"Although our performance wasn't very smooth today, that actually gives us more room to improve," Sui said. "It's colder here, and we still need to make further adjustments in various aspects of our adaptation. I think all of this is valuable experience."

"We may not recover as quickly as we did when we were younger," Han said. "That's why we need these competitions to rediscover some of the experience we had before gradually."

Han decided in June to come out of retirement and reunite with Sui in pursuit of a possible 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics campaign.

"We have now secured the quota place for Milan, and I hope we can step onto the ice in good health," Sui said. "In the coming weeks, we will continue to refine the details of our performance and strive to do better."

Earlier in the day, the ice dance veteran duo Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu scored 120.65 points to top the free dance and finished with a total of 202.06 for a convincing victory.

Ren Junfei/Xing Jianing and Xiao Zixi/He Linghao took silver and bronze, respectively.

"Compared with the China Cup, we've made progress," Liu said. "Our movements and transitions are more fluid, and our spacing and speed have improved."

At the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China earlier this season, Wang and Liu were the top Chinese finishers, placing seventh overall.

The National Championships are one of the two key events used to determine China's figure skating entries for the upcoming Winter Olympics. According to the selection regulations issued by the Winter Sports Management Center, Olympic selections are based on combined results from the 2025-2026 ISU Grand Prix Cup of China and the National Championships.

China has already secured one quota place in each of the four figure skating disciplines: men's singles, women's singles, pairs and ice dance.

"I think participating in the Winter Olympics is every athlete's dream," Wang Shiyue said. "If we can represent our country for a third time, it would be a great honor. We will give our all and aim to deliver our best performance on the Olympic stage."

In the women's short program, 14-year-old Jin Shuxian placed first with 69.08 points, while Zhang Ruiyang, who secured an Olympic berth for China at the ISU Figure Skating Olympic qualifier, finished second with 68.86. 2022 Beijing Winter Olympian Zhu Yi was third on 67.49.

The competition continues with the men's and women's free skate on Sunday. ■