Fans get big finale

Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedev gave figure skating fans one more show in South Korea. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir gave them one more on Olympic ice. The Russian teenagers, who dueled so memorably in the women’s event during the Pyeongchang Games, and the Canadian ice dance couple that became figure skating’s most decorated Olympians highlighted the traditional curtain-closing exhibition gala today. After years spent grinding toward competition, the gala is an opportunity for skaters to finally let down their hair, have a little fun and do what they enjoy most: entertain. So you had Zagitova,

the 15-year-old jumping jack who edged Medvedev for gold, performing to the jazz standard Afro Blue by American singer Jazzmeia Horn. And her close friend Medvedev, whose graciousness in settling for silver struck a chord for the Olympic movement, performed to a song from Battle of Sevastopol, the biographical war film set during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. “I wanted to project the feelings inside of me when I am anxious,” Medvedev explained. “All of us have moments in life when we don’t know what to do and in the end we come to a decision and resolve our conflicts, and this reflects the way I feel and express my soul and my inner world.” South Korean pairs skaters Yura Min and Alex Gamelin opened the gala with a flashy, colorful hip-hop program to Lollipop — and tossed candy into the crowd. There also was a performance by the North Korean pair of Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, who had the crowd clapping along. Just about every medalist from the Pyeongchang Games performed, including men’s gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, who finished off the gala to Notte Stellata by Il Volo.