China's returning figure skating Olympic champions Han Cong and Sui Wenjing finished their final rehearsal ahead of Milano-Cortina 2026 the hard way with their injury-plagued performance at the Four Continents raising concerns over their Olympic prospect.

What was considered an ideal tune-up for their third Olympic trip turned out to be a bitter test for reigning Olympic champion pair Sui and Han after the home favorite had to settle with a runner-up finish at the ISU Four Continents Championships, largely due to a sudden hip injury Sui suffered during a practice before the competition, held in Beijing's National Indoor Stadium on Saturday.

Apparently affected by the injury, Sui fell twice on ice, first off her own double axel jump and then a triple throw, during the pair's free-skate routine on Saturday night, scoring merely 124.97 points in the free-skating segment to eventually finish second with a total combine of 200.99 points with their short program following Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov of the United States in the first place.

Efimova and Mitrofanov, who finished third in Thursday's short program, came from behind to win their first Four Continents gold medal together by scoring a field-high 133.49 points in free skating.

Japan's Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi, who finished second behind Sui and Han in the short program, rounded up the podium at third place with a total score of 197.46 points.

Already having overcome a huge physical challenge to be back in shape for the Olympics, Sui and Han, who only came back to competition seven months ago from their indefinite retirement after their gold-winning feat at Beijing 2022, will face a tough race against time with only three weeks left before the figure skating pairs competition begins at the Milano-Cortina Games on Feb 15.

Sui, however, refuses to allow the injury woes take over their ambitious return.

"I was a little bit concerned and hesitant on whether should I compete before the event. Yet by pulling it off, even carrying the injury, supported by our fans and our diligent medical team, I feel we are OK," Sui said during the post-final news conference.

"If it (the injury) has to happen, I am glad it happened here, not prior to the Olympics. We still have time (to treat my injury and recover from it), and we are still confident for the Olympics."

Having won a silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and a gold at the home Games in Beijing, Sui and Han are coming back with renewed passion for figure skating and have shown quite a promising form to go for a third Olympic medal in Italy after finishing on podium at all the four official events - two ISU Grand Prix series stops, the Chinese national championships and the Four Continents meet - since their return.

"We will face whatever challenges head on with a positive mindset like we've done it all the time throughout our career," said Han.

"We could complete two programs tonight with no other flaws other than the injury-caused mistakes, which actually helped build our confidence knowing that we could do better with a proper recovery (of Sui's injury)."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn