Photo: PASCAL GUYOT/AFP via Getty Images
Olympic pairs figure skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier have a lot to celebrate about their performance at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France, on Thursday.
Knierim, 30, and Frazier, 29, are the first pair to win a world figure skating title for the United States in 43 years. Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner were the last U.S. pair to clinch the title, back in 1979.
The current American winners finished both the short program and free skate with a combined score of 221.09. Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara took silver with their combined total of 199.55, while bronze went to Canadian pair Vanessa James and Eric Radford with 197.32.
“I couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season,” Frazier told reporters,according to ESPN. “For Alexa and I, this was such a personal journey. To finish the season on this kind of program — I’ve dreamed of this moment so many times, but this is even better.”
The victory comes after Knierim and Frazier finished sixth at the Beijing Olympics, the best placement of an American team in years. Knierim and Frazier — who become partners in 2020 — placed seventh at the 2021 World Championships and had the highest score of all American pairs at the Grand Prix Series this past fall.
Americans Ashley Cain-Gribble and her partner Timothy LeDuc also participated in the pairs competition and were in second place following the short program. Unfortunately, Cain-Gribble fell multiple times on the ice during their free program,USA Todayreported.
Cain-Gribble was not able to get up after hitting her chin in a third fall and the pair were unable to complete their program when she was taken away on a stretcher,USA Todayadded.
“Our hearts go out to [Cain-Gribble and LeDuc],” Frazier added, according toUSA Today. “They’re our friends first, competitors second, so we were naturally really concerned to see what was going on with them.”
source: people.com
