Tears flowed on the ice as Germany's Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot finished their pairs free skate routine on Thursday. They had just broken their own world record in the free skate after pulling off a flawless performance and scoring a massive 159.31 points.

The routine gave them a total of 235.90, catapulting them from fourth to first place. The German pair collapsed and cried on the ice after the performance.

An anxious wait followed with three more pairs still to skate and the pair broke into tears once again when their gold medal was confirmed. China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong finished in second, agonisingly missing out by less than half a point after Sui took a tumble.

Read more: Winter Olympics: Day 6 Live

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took the bronze, following their team event gold.

Savchenko, 34, had previously won two bronze medals with former partner Robin Szolkowy but finally claimed a long-awaited gold after five Olympic Games. Rival Duhamel was quick to congratulate Savchenko, with all three teams embracing.

"I believed from the beginning to the end that this story would be a dream come true," Savchenko said.

"I was positive after yesterday. I said to Bruno, we will write history today. And then everything happened as I had imagined it and it came true."

The win marks Germany's first gold medal in the pairs since Ria Baran and Paul Falk in 1952. It was also Germany's eighth gold after just six days at Pyeongchang, equaling the total number it picked up during the entirety of the Winter Games in Sochi four years ago.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games The curtain falls The Games come to a close with a two-hour closing ceremony that saw spectators treated to a show of bright lights, dancing and pop music. The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, used his speech to praise athletes from both South and North Korea, who competed as a united team at these Games, for demonstrating their belief in "a peaceful future."

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Over the line The puck crosses the line in the Olympic gold-medal match between Russia and Germany, the underdogs who surprised everyone by reaching the final. On this occasion, Germany's goalkeeper Danny Aus could do nothing to stop Nikita Gusev from scoring for the Russians.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Restoring Russian pride Alina Zagitova stunned her training partner, teammate and world No. 1 Evgenia Medvedeva to take gold in the ladies’ singles figure skating. A record score from the 15-year-old in the short program proved the difference as both scored 156.65 in the free skate. The result meant a first gold for the Olympic Athletes from Russia team and could herald the start of a skating rivalry for the ages.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games A medal sweep Things couldn't have gone any better for Germany in the men's nordic combined, as Johannes Rydzek took gole, Fabian Riessle silver, and Eric Frenzel captured the bronze medal to complete the sweep.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Record-setting performance Canada's Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue broke the world record in ice dancing total points with a dynamic, brilliant free dance to win the gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games on Tuesday. The pair also took gold in Vancouver in 2010 and silver in Sochi in 2014.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Golden moment shared Germany's Francesco Friedrich and brakeman Thorsten Margis thought they had won the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh. Then Canadians Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz turned in an overall time that was exactly the same - meaning that the two teams shared this golden moment - and the medals that went with it.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games A winning crash German pilot Nico Walther set a confident gold-medal pace in the opening heats of the men's two-man bobsleigh competition, with he and brakeman crossing the line with a combined time of 38.39 seconds. However, the Germans took the final curve a bit too quickly, causing their sleigh to overturn as they hurtled across the finish line with their helmets scraping along the wall of the ice track.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Down and out German's Sinan Akdag was left face down on the ice after taking a check to the head by Tommy Kristiansen of Norway during the second period of their preliminary round game, which the Germans went on to win in a penalty shootout - their first win at the Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002. Akdag was unable to continue in the match and Kristiansen was handed a game misconduct for the offense.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games South Korean superhero Yun Sungbin won gold in the men's skeleton, to the delight of the home crowd. It was the host country's second gold of the Games, and only their third overall, but Sungbin delivered a supernatural performance to blow away the field. Perhaps his Iron Man helmet played a role?

Memorable moments at the Winter Games A golden world record German figure skaters Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot were overcome by emotions after they completed a flawless free program. The two not only won gold, but set a new free-program world record in the process, winning Germany's first gold in the pairs since 1952.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Controversial bronze Teammate Marianne St.-Gelias (right) almost seems happier than Kim Boutin seconds after the Canadian learned that she had won the bronze meal in women's speedskating on the 500-meter short track. Boutin was awarded bronze after South Korean Choi Min Jeong was disqualified for interference. However, the home fans - and many others -felt that it was actually Boutin who had committed the offense.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Dahlmeier double Germany's Laura Dahlmeier seals her second gold medal at the Winter Games, this time in the biathlon 10km pursuit. She is the first woman to win the sprint-pursuit double after her victory in the 7.5km sprint on Day 1.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Anderson repeats! Reigning Olympic champion Jamie Anderson survived treacherous conditions which disrupted the crash-filled women's slopestyle snowboarding event to successfully defend her Olympic title on Monday.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Nagasu makes history Mirai Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel at the Olympics as the United States won bronze in the team free skate.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Frimpong flying Former bobsleigher Akwasi Frimpong becomes Ghana's first ever athlete to compete at the Olympics in skeleton.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Teen gold Red Gerard, just 17 years old, sealed an incredible Olympic gold in the men's slopestyle, the United States' first in Pyeongchang. Gerard crashed out on his first two runs but his third and final was an absolute beauty, handing him an unlikely victory.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Golden tears Andreas Wellinger, 22, could not contain his joy after winning gold in men's normal hill ski jumping. It is already his second gold medal in his career as he won gold in the team long hill ski jumping event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Fan coordination North Korean short track speed skater Choe Un Song had a red sea of support behind him as he competed in the Men's 3000m. Unfortunately for the traveling North Korean troup, Choe failed to advance to the semifinals, racing just once.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Snowboard to super-G(old) In one of the most remarkable Olympic finishes ever, Czech snowboarder Ester Ledecka won gold in the women's Super-G by 0.01 seconds. Having crossed the line, Ledecka looked shocked at her time. "How did that happen," the television cameras overheard her say.

Memorable moments at the Winter Games Hanyu makes history A three-month layoff with a knee injury had cast doubts over Japanese superstar Yuzuru Hanyu's appearance at the Olympics. But the "Ice Prince" became the first man to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in men's singles figure skating since 1952.



dm/aw (AFP, dpa, Reuters)