With 84.41 points, Sui and Han advanced by more than a point and a half the best world mark, which they themselves had just improved during the team competition at the start of the Olympic fortnight.
But before the free program on Saturday evening, the double world champions (2017 and 2019) are only 16 hundredths ahead of Tarasova and Morozov (84.25 pts), who remained at the foot of the Olympic podium in 2018.
Russians Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, during their short program at the Beijing Olympics, February 18, 2022 Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV AFP
Twenty-four hours after the collapse of Kamila Valieva, her favorite young student for Olympic gold but at the heart of a doping case that arose in the middle of the Beijing Games and finally fourth in the women's event, the icy Eteri Tutberidze was back at the edge of the track: in this Olympic season, she came to expand the team around Tarasova and Morozov alongside the 2014 Olympic champion Maxime Trankov.
Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, reigning world and European champions, ranked third with 82.76 points.
Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Sui / Han and Tarasova / Morozov already occupied the first two places after the short program.
"This time, the Olympics are in Beijing and it's very different for us: we compete in our country, we have the support of people in the ice rink and in front of their television, it pushes us to perform better", underlines Sui.
The Chinese couple promises a quadruple twist in jump launched in their free program, when their competitors only offer triples.
"It's great progress for us, appreciates Sui. We hope to be able to show our best technique and our best artistic level."
The couples competition is the last figure skating event of the 2022 Olympics.
© 2022 AFP