U.S. pairs teams notched two top-10 finishes on Thursday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021, highlighting the second day of competition at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm.
The last time the United States had two pairs teams finish in the top 10 was at the 2012 in Nice, France.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, skating in their first World Championships as partners, earned 127.43 points on Thursday for 192.10 total points and a seventh-place finish.
“We did some really good things today that we’ve been trying to build on throughout the season,” Frazier said. “We had a couple of mistakes that we don’t normally make. They were minor and we just need to keep working. I’m proud of us, and proud of the fight we showed out there. This is our first international as a team and we just need to keep working.”
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc finished in ninth place, after earning 120.37 points on Thursday for 185.31 overall points.
“We’re a little disappointed with a few things that happened today,” LeDuc said. “But we’re also encouraged by a few things that we did today. We really love this program, so we wanted to hit it a little bit stronger to showcase what we do well. We’re not going to back down. We’re always going to be pushing ourselves as a team so that we can find the right mix that will help us get to the top.”
Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (FSR) were crowned World champions (227.59), Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN) earned the silver medal (225.71), and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (FSR) claimed bronze (217.63).
With the results, the United States will have two entries in the pairs competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
In the men’s competition, two-time reigning World champion Nathan Chen earned 98.85 points in Thursday’s short program and is in third place, trailing Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu (first, 106.98) and Yuma Kagiyama (second, 100.96). Chen had an uncharacteristic fall on his opening quadruple Lutz, but recovered to skate a solid program.
“That was a big mistake on my part,” Chen said. “I just didn’t take off right. I’m happy that I was able to get back on my feet and hit the next two jumps so as not to lose any more points on those. Overall, this program is done and behind me and I have to get ready for the free skate.”
Jason Brown, who finished ninth at the 2019 World Championships, is in seventh place after a 91.25-point short program.
“This is the first international event in a year, so as far as results and how it all stacks up, I don’t really know how the programs will be received by the judges,” Brown said. “I’m thrilled to have put out a program that I’m proud of and I look forward to the free skate on Saturday.”
Vincent Zhou, who earned a bronze medal at Worlds in 2019, scored 70.51 points in his short program to finish in 25th place. He did not qualify for the free skate.
“Sometimes it’s just not your day,” Zhou said. “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 free skate takes place on Saturday, beginning at 6 a.m. ET. Fans can watch live on Peacock Premium, and on NBCSN from 8-10 a.m. ET.
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. ET on NBCSN. 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
