Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier Win Second Straight World Championships Medal with Silver

Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier joined an elite club on Thursday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023 in Saitama, Japan.

With the silver medal, the 2022 World champions became just the seventh U.S. pairs team to win multiple World medals and the first since their coaches Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, who claimed a pair of bronze medals in 1995 and 1996 and silver in 1998.

"I was very proud of us," Knierim said. We never dreamed that we would have two World medals and for us this is an achievement and the color is beautiful!"

The podium finish caps off an incredible season for Knierim and Frazier, who made history just about every time they stepped on the ice. They won gold or silver at every competition they competed at, becoming the first U.S. pairs team to win two Grand Prix events in a season and bring home a medal at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

In Japan, the two-time U.S. champions clinched season's best scores of 142.84 for their free skate and 217.48 overall. Winning the free skate, Knierim and Frazier opened their skate to "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles with a strong triple twist lift.

Although they then struggled on their two jumping elements, Knierim and Frazier responded with positive grades of execution on all remaining elements, including two standout lifts that each received 9.50 points from the judges.

They did of all of this with thoughts of their coaches, Meno and Sand, in the back of their minds. Sand suffered a heart attack during the ISU World Junior Championships 2023 earlier this month.

"It's just been a Worlds with emotion. I'm so proud of our fight in the two performances," Frazier said. "But it wasn't our best. It was a little better than at home training. I would say I feel very good about our fight and the program we put out. It took a lot of courage to come here this week and do what we needed to do and I'm just proud of Alexa and myself." 

Emily Chan and Spencer Howe and Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, both of whom are competing at their first Worlds, finished fifth and 12th, respectively.

Skating to "Unchained Melody," Chan and Howe struggled early in their skate, but ended strong for a total segment score of 124.50. Their Level 4 Axel Lasso lift was their highest scoring element at 9.20 points.

The two-time Four Continents silver medalists tallied a two-day score of 194.73 to finish in the top five at their first World Championships.

"I was over excited in anticipating the performance. But other than that, I thought the audience had great energy, so it really gave me the energy to keep going," Chan said.

Kam and O'Shea earned positive grades of execution on all but one element and their component scores ranked in the top 10, but two falls dropped the new team that began their partnership in September to 12th. They claimed 112.19 points for their free skate to "Nocturnal Animals" by Abel Korzeniowski for a total score of 175.59.

"I feel pretty mixed. There are some things to be proud of and be happy with, and then you know, you make mistakes, and you want to come back, right?" O'Shea said. "I think that overall, the takeaway from this competition is one of growth and joy, and on to the next opportunity." 

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won gold with a total score of 222.16 points. Standing on the podium with bronze was Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy with 208.08 points.

The men's event also kicked off Thursday with Team USA looking to keep its World Championships medal streak alive. The United States has won a medal every year the event has been held since 2018, including three of the last four golds.

A year after winning the World Junior Championships, 2023 U.S. champion Ilia Malinin is in position to continue that run, taking his first steps toward winning a World medal with a second place result in the short program.

Malinin, who has medaled at every competition this season, and won four golds, set a new international personal best in the short program with a score of 100.38.

Earning the highest total element score of the segment and all positive grades of execution, Malinin started his performance to "I Put a Spell on You" by Garou with what was by far and away the highest scoring element of the short program – a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination – that scored more than 19 points. Another quad toe and triple Axel as well as Level 4 marks on each of his spins and his step sequence launched Malinin into medal contention going into Saturday's free skate.

"I feel excited. I have been working to this moment my whole life," Malinin said. "This is an amazing moment for me, and I have been practicing these last couple of weeks so hard and with so much effort, so I am really glad I was finally able to pull off this short program." 

Competing in his first major international competition since the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and fifth World Championships, Jason Brown also received positive grades of execution on every element, highlighted by his triple Lutz-triple toe combination halfway through the performance. The two-time Olympian also was awarded Level 4 marks on his three spins and his step sequence.

Skating to "Melancholy" by Alexey Kosenko, Brown claimed the second-highest component scores in the competition for a total short program score of 94.17, good for sixth place.

"This program is all about reflection," Brown said. "The meaning behind it when I was creating it with my choreographer Rohene (Ward) is about the different ways that we reflect. Sometimes it's about looking at yourself in the mirror and you're questioning what you're seeing. And sometimes it's about taking off a tinted lens and removing that film and seeing it more clearly. We wanted to take a program that's very stripped down and about the lines in a different way and just about the skating and taking it all in." 

The third member of Team USA, Andrew Torgashev, secured his berth at his first senior World Championships after earning bronze at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships. After missing the majority of the last two seasons with injury, Torgashev placed 22nd for his performance to "Oblivion" by Hauser, scoring 71.41.

"I'm so grateful to be here and to be able to compete. This is such a wonderful opportunity that I didn't plan for at the beginning of the season," Torgashev said. "This run through of course was not my favorite, and I think many things could have been better. I think that the spins and footwork were done well, but the jumps could have been performed better of course. But it's just such a wonderful opportunity to be able to be here in Japan and competing." 

Shoma Uno of Japan leads the competition with 104.63 points. Junhwan Cha of Korea ranks third with 99.64 points.

The rhythm dance and women's free skate will take center stage Friday on day three of the World Championships. To follow Team USA, including the full event schedule, how to watch, bios and more, visit the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023 Competition Central.