Karen Chen was the first American to take the ice on Wednesday afternoon, earning a personal-best score of 74.40 points to finish fourth in the ladies short program on the first day of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm.
Chen, who is returning to the World Championships for the first time since finishing fourth at the 2017 event in Helsinki, skated a clean program, landing three jumps, including an opening triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. She received Level 4 marks on all other elements.
“I’m really happy with how my performance went,” Chen said. “I gave it my all. I definitely felt like the opening combination could have been better since I’ve been nailing it in practice, so it’s a bit disappointing to not be perfect. Overall, though, I’m happy with the cohesive performance and what I was able to give today.”
Reigning U.S. champion Bradie Tennell is seventh heading into the free skate after earning a score of 69.87 points. Tennell doubled the toe loop on the end of a planned triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, but otherwise skated a solid program.
“I think my timing was just a bit off,” Tennell said of the combination. “It's very strange because my (triple) Lutz combo is one of my most solid jumps so I'm pretty disappointed with that skate. I've been skating a clean short program every single day since [U.S. Championships], so to come here and put out a program like that is very surprising to me and I'm pretty unhappy with it, actually. I think I really let myself down there.”
Anna Shcherbakova (FSR) and Rika Kihira (JPN) are first and second, respectively, while Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (FSR) is in third.
The U.S. ladies will take the ice again on Friday evening in Stockholm. Watch live on Peacock Premium and NBCSN, 2:30-5 p.m. ET. Their total placement after the free skate needs to combine for 13 or less to earn three entries to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
After the pairs short program, both U.S. teams are in the top 10. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, who are making their second Worlds appearance, earned 64.94 points for the sixth-best short program.
"We've done so many clean short programs at home so that even when the mistake happened (fall on side-by-side triple Salchow), I was able to let my training kick in,” Cain-Gribble said. The duo of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, skating for the first time together on international soil, earned 64.67 points and are in seventh place.
“It’s very exciting to be back amongst all of the other international athletes,” Knierim said. “This is our first competition like this as a pair, so we’re just learning as we go and enjoying it together.”
Both teams faltered on their side-by-side jumps.
Teammates Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (FSR), and Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (FSR) are in first and third, respectively. Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN) are in second place.
The pairs competition will conclude tomorrow evening with live coverage on NBCSN from 3-5 p.m. ET. Like the U.S. ladies, the pairs teams' total placement after the free skate needs to combine for 13 or less to earn three entries to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Thursday’s competition will also feature the men’s short program, which will be broadcast on NBCSN from 5-7 p.m. ET. Fans can also watch the events live on Peacock Premium.
Taking place in a bubble environment with no spectators, athletes are returning to the world stage for the first time since the 2019 World Championships after the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBC and NBCSN will provide extensive broadcast coverage of the competition. A full schedule is available here. Additionally, the full competition can be streamed live at Peacock Premium.
Full results
