Figure skating-Russian pair preserve dynasty

Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze kept Russia's Olympic pair skating dynasty alive on Monday, winning the country's 11th consecutive Winter Games pairs title.

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, the 1998 Olympic silver medallists, were ranked first by five of the nine judges ahead of Canada's world champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who claimed silver.

China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao ranked third, capturing the first Olympic pairs skating medal for their country.

Sale and Pelletier, however, were clearly the crowd's favourite and received a raucous, standing ovation for their endearing Love Story routine.

The Canadians celebrated, believing their performance was enough for gold, but the majority of judges decided otherwise.

When the scoreboard showed the Russians had held on to first place, the Salt Lake Ice Centre erupted in an enduring chorus of boos.

Earlier, there had been a stunning collision between Sale and Sikharulidze towards the end of the final group's six-minute warm-up.

Sale collided heavily with Sikharulidze as she stepped forward into a solo jump. Both were travelling at full speed.

With the wind knocked out of her, Sale stayed down on one knee for some time as Sikharulidze and Pelletier hovered over her.

Finally, Sale stood up, took a deep breath, and skated to the barrier under her own steam. When her turn to skate came some 15 minutes later she seemed none the worse.

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze performed a passionate routine to Jules Massenet's Meditation from the opera Thais, which featured soaring, intricate lifts, precise throw jumps and perfectly-timed spins, yet they failed to ignite the audience.

Pundits thought Love Story would give Canada their first Olympic figure skating gold medal in 42 years, but it was not to be.

In fourth place were another Russian duo Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, the European champions.

In fifth with what was possible the personal-best performance of the night were Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, who rode a wave of positive energy from the partisan crowd throughout their performance.

Spectators roared their approval and rose to their feet as the U.S. duo spun to a stop at the end of the four-and-a-half minute freeskate.

Ina flashed a broad smile, while Zimmerman pumped both fists in the air in personal triumph.