Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (left); Ashley Cain Gribble and Timothy Leduc.Photo: MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images; FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Both American teams have qualified for the pairs figure skating final at theWinter Olympics.
“We competed exactly how we’ve been skating and what we set out to do,” Frazier said following his performance. “I’m just so proud and still enjoying the Olympic experience. But above all, just so proud of what Alexa and I are doing and how we’re holding ourselves. Some things were a little tight but most of all we went out there and attacked that program and gave it everything we’ve got.”
Meanwhile, American pair skaters Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, who entered the competition ranked eighth, gave a stunning performance and earned a score of 74.13 points — 39.91 technical score and 34.22 component score — landing in seventh place behind their fellow American skaters.
Said LeDuc after, “We were so joyous. Just from the moment that we took the ice.”
Finishing in first was China’s Cong Han and Wenjing Sui, who lead the qualifiers with a score of 84.41. In second and third are two of Russia’s teams: Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, then Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
“It had been since 2015 since we had won that [national] title. And we just felt like we were the best versions of ourselves this year to be able to step back onto that top of the podium,” Cain-Gribble added. “Those were two big goals of ours. And when they finally all came to fruition, just being able to look at our team and say we all made this happen was pretty surreal.”
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
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LeDuc, who is a barrier-breaker as the first openly gay and nonbinary Winter Olympian, also opened up to PEOPLE about what they hope viewers will take away from their historic Olympic run.
“I’ve seen some of the headlines saying that I’m going to be the first openly nonbinary athlete competing in the Winter Olympics, which is really exciting, but when people see my story and see Ashley is in my story, I don’t want it solely to be about us and my accomplishments or my reaching this level of sport,” LeDuc explained.
They continued, “I’m hoping that people see the story, and instead the narrative turns to more broadly the progress that queer people are making. And hopefully, the message that this sends to young queer people, that I hope they feel like they can lead with authenticity and that they can enter their spaces, their sports, their school, any spaces that they enter, and be authentically themselves. And not have to feel like they have to change themselves or adjust themselves in order to be successful or to be taken seriously.”
To learn more about Team USA, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, now, and the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.
source: people.com
