VINCENT ZHOU

Eight months after finishing behind the Russians at the Winter Olympics, the U.S. team has yet to receive its medals.

Figure skaters Vincent Zhou and Alysa Liu each took home a bronze medal at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France. Zhou, who withdrew from the Beijing Winter Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, recovered and earned a bronze medal in the men’s world championships with a total score of 277.38. “I thought I couldn’t do it,” Zhou stated later in a press conference.

Olympians in Beijing are complaining about inedible food during quarantine, no training equipment in isolation hotels and poor communication.

The winners in the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics still have not received their medals two days later because of what the IOC said Wednesday were “legal issues.” The ceremony to award the Russian team the gold medals, the United States silver and Japan bronze was pulled from its scheduled slot late Tuesday. Reporters asked the Kremlin about the issue later Wednesday amid speculation that the gold medals won by six Russian skaters could be at risk.

Five athletes and team officials tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

Representatives of the International Olympic Committee said the risk of catching COVID-19 within the bubble at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is far less than it is outside.

In an emotional video, Zhou explains his difficult decision

The U.S. earned the silver, thanks largely to a winning dance program from Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

The positive result may impact the 21-year-old's ability to compete in his next program, which is scheduled for tonight.

China returned to work Monday after a weeklong Lunar New Year holiday muted by the pandemic — and even more so for the thousands of people inside a Winter Olympics bubble.

With poise and precision, American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the discipline with a score of 129.17.

Zhou competed on Sunday in the team event as a substitute for three-time world champion Nathan Chen. He is supposed to compete again on Tuesday in the men's short program.

"The enormity of the situation ... the pain of it all, is pretty insane," Zhou said in an emotional video posted to Instagram. A silver medalist in the team event, he was to compete again on Tuesday.

U.S. men’s figure skater Vincent Zhou has tested positive for the coronavirus, and is out of the individual competition.

World champion Kamila Valieva cemented her status as the gold medal-favorite at the Beijing Games by putting forward a winning short program to help the Russians take the lead in the team event.

The team competition in Olympic figure skating has been dominated over the years by the Russians, the Canadians and the Americans.

Multiple medals at the World Figure Skating Championships are rare for the United States. Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue collected bronze in ice dance. Hubbell and Donohue figure to be tested by Madison Chock and Evan Bates, with whom they have swapped U.S. titles in recent years. Hubbell and Donohue edged Chock and Bates in January at nationals, reversing the finish for each couple in 2019. “Madison Chock and Evan Bates have only competed once this season, where Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue have been stellar in their events, and I think the momentum is in their favor.

“I’m thrilled with the short program today," said the two-time world gold medalist. "At the beginning of this year at a small, local competition, in Colorado, I scored 103 with a clean program. WOMENNational champion Bradie Tennell and third-place finisher Karen Chen were selected for the world championships team. Tennell won her second U.S. title Friday night; she also finished first in 2018. The 2021 world championships are set for March 22-28 in Stockholm.