SOCHI, Russia — Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov won the Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating Wednesday as Russia took the top two spots to reclaim its dominance of the sport.

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov had a near-flawless free skate to move up from third after the short program and capture silver in front of the ecstatic home fans.

Volosozhar and Trankov scored 152.69 points to finish with 236.86, 18.18 ahead of their teammates.

Four-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany had to settle for bronze for the second straight Olympics.

Russia or the Soviet Union had won gold in 12 straight Olympics in the event before the streak ended four years ago, when the Russians failed to take home any pairs medal from Vancouver.


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