U.S. Pairs Sit 1-2, Bell in Third After First Day of Competition at World Championships

After the first two disciplines kicked off competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2022, U.S. skaters hold three of six podium positions heading into the free skates in Montpellier, France.
 
In women's, Mariah Bell sits in third place following the short program, looking to win the first medal for a U.S. woman in six years. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier lead the way in pairs, sitting in first place, with Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc just a point behind in second place.
 
The drought the pairs look to break is much longer.
 
PAIRS
 
Let's start with the stats.
 
No U.S. pair has been on the podium at a World Championships since 2002. No U.S. pair has won a World title since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979. The last time two U.S. pairs were on the podium at a World Championships was in 1949.
 
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier and Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc are set to change all of that.
 
Following the short program in Montpellier, the two U.S. teams sit in first and second place.
 
Knierim and Frazier hold the top spot with 76.88 points, while Cain-Gribble and LeDuc are in second place with 75.85 points.
 
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan round out the top three in third place with 71.58 points.
 
"We're super excited with our performance, super excited with our position right now, and super excited about U.S. pairs," LeDuc said. "This is a really awesome result to see, and we're excited for the future as well.
 
"I think it's the result of a lot of hard work from the athletes, from the coaches, and from the U.S. Figure Skating staff to help ensure that pairs can achieve such a high level of success at the World Championships."
 
Knierim and Frazier's score for their short program sets a new personal best for the duo, who teamed up just two years ago.
 
"We feel very fulfilled," Frazier said. "We're very proud of ourselves for just continuing to build at each competition in our second season together. It takes a lot of time to build in the international circuit, and I think we're just doing our best each time."
 
This is Knierim and Frazier's second World Championships appearance, placing seventh in 2021. They finished sixth in their first Olympic Winter Games as a pair just a month ago.
 
They're coached by Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, who themselves won two bronze and a silver medal at the World Championships during their competitive careers.
 
"I think whatever our personal best may be will be enough to make him proud and us proud," Knierim said. "So we'll see what happens."
 
Based on the highest scores this season from the pairs in the field, Knierim and Frazier touched down in France as the gold-medal favorites. One more performance like their short program and they could very well live up to the expectations, but they've closed themselves off to what others might expect of them.
 
"At the end of the day, we can't control circumstances," Frazier said. "We just come in, we focus on ourselves and just try to do our best. It's all how we view the opportunity, but for us, I think we view the opportunity as just another event after the Olympic Games to come out and perform and try to increase your potential. And that's just what we're focused on."
 
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, meanwhile, scored a new season best for their skate to music from The White Crow by Ilan Eshkeri.
 
"We're really happy with the effort today, but it's only one part of the competition, and we're looking forward to putting out a really good effort in the long program," Cain-Gribble said. "It's been a strong program for us, and we want to show that."
 
In two prior World Championships appearances, Cain-Gribble and LeDuc have two ninth-place finishes.
 
In Beijing last month, they finished eighth in their Olympic debut despite Cain-Gribble suffering a right ankle injury just days before the short program.
 
"For that to happen right before the short program, it was really frustrating, but you try to focus on what you can control and getting the most out of the experience," she said. "Luckily, had we had a really great team there that helped me rehab it right away, and when I got home, it was straight into rehabbing it as well, and just continued to do that so I could be 100% here. And I feel like I am."
 
The pairs' free skate will be held on Thursday after the men's short program, and it could be the end of several very long droughts for U.S. pairs. The two teams representing the U.S. in France wish nothing but the best for each other, and believe that is the secret to their collective success.
 
"We all really respect each other, and we have a very healthy, competitive atmosphere around us," Cain-Gribble said. "We both want to be the best, but we're also willing each other to have the space to do that. So I think it just comes from a lot of respect."

The pairs free skate will be broadcast live on USA tomorrow from 3-5 p.m. ET. The men's short program will air immediately before from 1-3 p.m. ET.

WOMEN
 
Mariah Bell has heard the chatter and wants to get it out of the way early.
 
Yes, she's 25 years old. Turning 26 next month, in fact.
 
"Everybody loves to talk about my age, so we might as well just say I'm 26, because I've got a month to go," she said with a laugh.
 
But at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Montpelier, France, Bell is arguably skating better than she ever has in her career.
 
After the short program, Bell is in third place, scoring a new personal best of 72.55 points for her skate to "River Flows in You" by Yiruma.
 
She is in prime position to better her career-high placement at the World Championships, a ninth-place finish in 2019.
 
This season, Bell won the first U.S. title of her career and placed 10th in her Olympic debut in Beijing.
 
"I absolutely think I'm getting better," Bell said. "It's exciting. I just hope that people understand that as long as you want to and you're dedicated, you can continue to improve. That's the biggest message I want to send."
 
Olympic bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan leads with 80.32 points, and Loena Hendrickx of Belgium is in second with 75.00 points.
 
Alysa Liu is in fifth place and Karen Chen is eighth.
 
"I just had a really good time," Bell said of her short program. "I was really enjoying myself, and I felt really in the moment. I wasn't thinking too much about points or how I would feel at the end. I was just really trying to enjoy the moment, especially since it's been such a long season. And I was able to do that, so I'm happy."
 
Her small medal for the short program is the first for a U.S. woman since Gracie Gold won the short program, also in 2016.
 
"It's a huge honor for me," Bell said. "It's really exciting. I didn't think about it much coming in, about placements, but just wanted to skate my best, and it's a huge honor to be in third after the short. And exciting, because it has been a little bit of time since that's happened. So it's a huge honor for me, and I'm really looking forward to the free skate."
 
Behind Bell in fifth place, Liu scored 71.91 points for her skate to "Gypsy Dance II" from Don Quixote.
 
She's just 0.17 points out of fourth place, held by Young You of South Korea, and 0.64 points out of bronze-medal position.
 
"Right now I feel really good," Liu said. "I'm really happy and relieved with my program, which is normally how I feel, but at Olympics and Worlds, emotions are higher."
 
Emotions were so high that she cried tears of joy following her skate.
 
"They were happy tears," Liu clarified with a laugh. "I don't know if I looked sad. Maybe I did. But they were happy tears."
 
This is Liu's World Championship debut; she won bronze at the 2020 World Junior Championships and placed seventh in her Olympic debut in Beijing.
 
The 16-year-old had the time of her life at the Olympics, soaking up every second of her experience. At her first World Championships, she hopes to simply do the same thing.
 
"I think my goal is probably the same as the Olympics," Liu said. "I just want to do two clean programs, and I want to enjoy my time here. The hotel is really nice. It feels like I'm on vacation, except for, you know, competitions, practice. But when I'm in the hotel, I really feel like they just sent us out for vacation."
 
Chen is in eighth place with 66.16 points for her short program to "Requiem for a Tower" and "Dream" by Escala, Jennifer Thomas and Hugo Chouinard.
 
She placed 16th at the Olympics after struggles with her triple loop, and had issues on the same jump in this short program.
 
"I changed the pattern. I changed the entry. I did what I could to kind of get out of that and treat it as a new jump," Chen said. "I think if I would've had another week to really rehearse this new setup again and again, I'd have more confidence. I'm kind of in this gray area where I have to think. It's not quite muscle memory yet, so I do have to think, but then if I overthink, that's when things go wrong. I'm honestly super proud."

The women's competition concludes on Friday, March 25 at 1 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the women's short program on USA from 12-2 p.m. ET on Friday, followed immediately by a live broadcast of the free skate from 2-4 p.m. ET. NBC will also air the women's free skate in primetime on Saturday, March 26 from 8-10 p.m. ET. All competition is also available live and on-demand on Peacock Premium.

Fans can also follow Team USA and get behind the scenes stories and photos at the competition central page.