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The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 in Stockholm, continued Thursday with the men's short program and the conclusion of the pairs event.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished seventh in their first World Championships together, while
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc placed ninth. The teams' combined placements earned two Olympic entries for U.S. pairs at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Meanwhile, on the men's side, two-time reigning World champion
Nathan Chen leads the U.S. men in third place heading into Saturday's free skate.
PAIRS
Perhaps neither U.S. pair competing at the World Championships had the finish they wanted, but the prognosis for U.S. pairs skating is promising.
Knierim and Frazier placed seventh overall, while Cain-Gribble and LeDuc finished ninth, marking the first time two U.S. pairs have placed in the top 10 at a World Championships since 2012.
It's a drastic improvement from four years ago. At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, the U.S. was represented by just one pair (Knierim with husband and former partner Chris Knierim). In 2022, there will be two.
"The fact that three spots was part of the conversation I think is a testament to the progress that we've made," LeDuc said. "We have two teams in the top 10, which is really exciting. We're seeing improvement in U.S. pairs each year. The placements are getting higher and higher. I think both teams here can be really proud of themselves for pushing themselves and pushing pairs forward."
Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSR) took the title with 227.59 points. Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China claimed silver with 225.71, and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (FSR) earned bronze with 217.63.
Knierim and Frazier's free skate to "Fall On Me" by Andrew Bocelli and Matteo Bocelli scored 127.43 points, giving them a total of 192.10.
"We had a really, really good fight out there," Frazier said. "There were a couple things that were a little shakier than normal, so obviously a little disappointed there. But overall, very happy with how we handled ourselves."
This is Knierim's sixth World Championship appearance and Frazier's third, but their first as a team. This season, they won the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships and 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America.
Knierim and Frazier paired up just a year ago, and due to the lack of international competition this year, they had to send in video to the ISU to reach the minimum technical scores required to compete at the World Championships.
Coming into Stockholm as the leading U.S. pair was a lot of pressure, but the duo said most of the expectations they were saddled with were internal.
"Nobody forces it upon me, but I think sometimes I take on the role of trying to be perfect every time," Knierim said. "I'm just upset because I wasn't able to do that, and I know I'm capable of it. So I think the pressure really came from myself. Everybody gives me so much love and support that it's just trying to be my own personal best."
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc earned 120.37 points for their free skate to "Piano Concerto No. 2" by Rachmaninoff for a total of 185.31.
The reigning U.S. bronze medalists, they matched their ninth-place finish from their first World Championship appearance in 2019.
"We're a little bit disappointed with some things today," LeDuc said. "At the same time, we're also very encouraged by some other things in the program. We really love this program, so we wanted to hit it a little bit stronger, just to really showcase everything we do well. And we did some of those things today, and missed some of those other ones, particularly the loop on my part. But it's not something we're going to back down from. We're always going to be pushing ourselves forward as a team to try new things, and ultimately just try to find that right mix so we can get to the top."
And while three Olympic entries are no longer a possibility for 2022, the future looks bright.
"It would've been great, obviously, to have the spots. We really wanted those," LeDuc said. "But again, like I said, it being a part of the conversation --
realistically a part of the conversation -- is really exciting for us. And you know, four years from now, let's see if we can do it."
MEN
For the first time in a long time, Chen finds himself in need of a comeback moment.
Following the short program in Stockholm, the two-time reigning World champion sits in third place after his skate to "Asturias" by Frida Lopez and "Cancion del Mariachi" by Los Lobos earned 98.85 points.
Two-time World champion and two-time reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan is in first place with 106.98 points. Yuma Kagiyama, also of Japan, is in second with 100.96 points.
"I made a big mistake right off the bat, which is, I wouldn't say unconventional, but something that doesn't normally happen to me, so I had to figure out how to sort of regroup right after that," Chen said. "That was not an ideal way to start off that program, but mistakes happen, and I'm glad I had this opportunity to sort of learn from them and move forward."
Indeed, he was uncharacteristically shaky in the first half of his short program in Stockholm, falling on his opening quadruple Lutz. But he was able to recover and complete the rest of his program without error.
"When a mistake happens like that, I try to slow myself down, slow my pace, slow my thinking, slow everything down so I have a little bit more time to put myself in a better position to attack the next few jumps," Chen said. "If I feel like I'm starting to get ahead of myself, I think more mistakes would've happened."
Chen is undefeated since the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, and won his fifth consecutive U.S. title this January.
While that streak may be in jeopardy, Chen is focused on analyzing his quad Lutz and giving himself another opportunity to succeed at it in the free skate -- not the color of the medal he may get.
"Medals are always something that I feel is so out of my control," Chen said. "If I focus solely on trying to come in and beat this person or trying to do this or whatnot, I feel like I'm then putting the wrong foot in the door, essentially, and not really thinking about the right things.
"Whatever the results happen to be are how they'll be. I'm just going to try to skate better, do better, and be a little more satisfied with my own skate."
Jason Brown is in seventh place after his short program to "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone scored 91.25 points.
In three prior World Championships appearances, Brown's best finish was fourth in 2015. He took silver at the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in his only competition this season.
"I fought out there, and I'm really proud of that," Brown said. "Obviously, always, my goal is to get plus-5s on absolutely everything, make everything look effortless, crisp, clean. Today was a little bit more of a fight, but I'm proud of the fight that I did give."
Reigning U.S. bronze medalist
Vincent Zhou earned 70.51 points for his short program to "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" by Josh Groban. He is in 25th place and did not qualify for the free skate.
"Sometimes things just don't happen the way you want them to," Zhou said. "You can train as much as you want, prepare as much as you want, physically and mentally, be in the best shape of your life. Sometimes it's just not your day. Today is just one of those days. Probably the worst day for that to happen, but life throws curveballs at you sometimes. I'm just going to use today to grow from and come back stronger next time."
The men's competition will conclude on Saturday, March 27. Fans can watch the free skate live on NBCSN from 8-10 a.m. ET and on Peacock Premium.
Tomorrow's competition will feature the ladies free skate, which will be broadcast on live NBCSN from 2:30-5 p.m. ET, and the rhythm dance which will air a same-day delayed broadcast from 10:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. on NBCSN. Fans can also watch the events live on Peacock Premium.
