Figure skaters Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu have been looking to the athletics track for inspiration after producing Team China's best-ever ice dance result at the Winter Olympics.

"We think we could be like Su Bingtian, the Chinese sprinter. Though we are not first-rate athletes in our field yet, we are aiming to make more breakthroughs, pushing Chinese and even Asian figure skating to a higher level," said Liu.

At last year's Tokyo Olympics, Su became the first Chinese sprinter to qualify for the Olympic men's 100m final. Wang and Liu have also been raising the bar for China in their sport at Beijing 2022.

As China's sole ice dance representatives at these Olympics, Wang and Liu, both 27 years old, scored 111.01 points to finish ninth in Monday's free dance. Their performance had a distinctive Chinese feel as they skated to Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends.

The local favorites, who also danced to two programs in the team event a week ago, scored 73.41 in the rhythm dance to rank 12th overall with a total score of 184.42.

The country's previous best Olympic result in ice dance was Han Bing and Yang Hui's 18th-place finish at the 1992 Games in Albertville.

"It's a remarkable improvement for Chinese ice dancing, and Wang and Liu represent the top level of China," said Yao Bin, who guided pairs couple Shen Yue and Zhao Hongbo to the country's first Olympic figure skating gold 12 years ago at Vancouver 2010.

"China didn't begin to learn ice dancing until 1981, and it takes generations of Chinese figure skaters' efforts to arrive at this point," added the legendary coach, 64.

Two-time Olympians Wang and Liu scored highly for a level-four opening combined spin, synchronized twizzles and a straight line lift-rotation lift combination in the free skate, but were deducted one point for an extended lift.

They were also the only ice dance pair from Asia to advance to the free dance. Twenty out of 23 couples progressed, with Japan's Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto finishing a surprising 22nd in the rhythm dance.

The duo told media after Saturday's rhythm dance that they are now looking to break into the world's top 10, and that their free skate performance proved that target is within reach.

"We were the only Asians among the 20 pairs. We haven't reached our limits, and we have room for further improvement," Liu, who has been paired with Wang since 2005, said on Monday.

Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Wang and Liu failed to reach the free dance after they finished 22nd in the short dance.

"After a disappointing Olympic debut, we began training at two-time Olympians Patrice Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil's school in Canada, and managed to make a lot of progress," Wang said.

That training stint bore fruit during the 2020-21 season's Cup of China, when Wang and Liu became the first Chinese ice dance couple to win an ISU Grand Prix event. They finished a respectable fourth at the 2020 Four Continents Championships and ranked 13th at the 2021 world championships.

"Coming back to the Olympic rink, we felt happy, not just because we earned some satisfying scores, but also because we know we can do better with the improvement we made, especially mentally and in our way of thinking," Liu said.

Wang and Liu admitted that four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games they were timid and full of self-doubt. However, two years of hard work in Canada followed by two years of behind-closed-doors training amid the pandemic has transformed them on the ice.

"We have had the best performance so far. We feel that all our endeavors of the past four years have paid off," Liu said.

"It didn't matter whether past circumstances favored us or not. We've finally managed to complete all four programs, not falling short of the fans' expectations," said Wang.

"The adversity of the past two years actually enhanced our confidence."

Xinhua