US Olympic Figure Skating 2018: Free Skate Top Scorers, Highlights

A stunning performance by German skaters Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot in the free skate allowed them to rise from fourth place after the short program to win the gold medal in the pairs figure skating event Wednesday night (American time).

They performed first in the final group of the night, and they skated with courage and fervor. After starting with a couple of exciting maneuvers, they built from there and put on one of the top performances in Olympic figure skating memory.

Massot threw his partner high in the air, and Savchenko managed to land gracefully each time. All of their jumps, throws and maneuvers were performed flawlessly, and they received a score of 159.31, bettering their previous personal best of 157.25.

That performance gave them a two-day total of 235.90, and they were left to wait and see if the performance and score would hold up.

After the other final groups skated their routines, the gold-medal-winning Savchenko and Massot both let their emotions loose, and their tears were flowing.

Pairs free (FINAL)

1. Aljona Savchenko/Bruno Massot GER - 235.90 (82.07, 77.24, 159.31)
2. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong CHN - 235.47 (76.29, 76.79, 153.08)
3. Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford CAN - 230.15 (79.86, 73.47, 153.33)
4. Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov OAR - 224.93 (70.08, 74.17, -1.00, 143.25)
5. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres FRA - 218.53 (71.59, 71.60, 143.19)
6. Valentina Marchei/Ondrej Hotarek ITA - 216.59 (73.94, 68.15, 142.09)
7. Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert OAR - 212.88 (70.36, 68.17, 138.53)
8. Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao CHN - 204.10 (62.98, 67.54, -2.00, 128.52)
9. Julianne Seguin/Charlie Bilodeau CAN - 204.02 (71.28, 65.22, 136.50)
10. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise ITA - 202.74 (64.60, 65.14, -1.00, 128.74)
11. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro CAN - 198.11 (70.42, 62.01, 132.43)
12. Kristina Astakhova/Alexei Rogonov OAR - 194.45 (62.17, 63.76, -2.00, 123.93)
13. Ryom Tae Ok/Kim Ju Sik PRK - 193.63 (63.65, 60.58, 124.23)
14. Anna Duskova/Martin Bidar CZE - 186.33 (64.34, 58.74, 123.08)
15. Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim USA - 185.82 (60.57, 60.70, -1.00, 120.27)
16. Annika Hocke/Ruben Blommaert GER - 171.98 (53.79, 55.15, 108.94)

Americans Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim were unable to close their Olympic performance with a standout performance.

The husband-and-wife team was unable to skate without making errors, and they finished with a score of 185.82. That left them in 15th place out of the 16 teams that made the finals.

The Knierims told NBC Chicago that they skated right after learning of the Florida school shooting Wednesday and were "emotionally drained."

Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China were the leaders going into the final skate, but they made a couple of key mistakes early in their program, and that kept them from beating Savchenko and Massot. They were able to finish their program in impressive fashion, but they could not overcome those early issues.

Sui and Han received a scored of 153.08 and a final total of 235.47. That was nearly a half-point below Savchenko and Massot, and it forced them to settle for the silver medal instead of earning the gold they wanted so badly.

Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were also excellent, as they completed the first quad salchow of the 2018 Olympics. They skated with passion and emotion, but their performance was not as flawless as the Germans. Their score of 153.33 reflected the difference between their performance and the gold medalists, and their two-day total of 230.13 left them with the bronze medal.

Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov were the final skaters of the pairs competition, and they potentially could have finished in any of the medal positions. However, there were too many errors committed during their program when they needed perfection.

They scored a 143.25 and a total of 224.93. That left the Olympic Athletes from Russia in fourth place.