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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2021 4:45:06 GMT
Knierim/Frazier aim for continued success In the pairs event, a different team could skate away as national champs for the fifth time in six seasons as the new duo of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were the top finishers at Skate America.
They would be first-time winners together at nationals, though each skater is a former U.S. champ, having just teamed up in April of 2020. Knierim formerly skated with her husband, Chris Knierim, while Frazier was paired with Haven Denney.
Knierim/Frazier train alongside Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson, who had a breakout 2019-20 season and won the silver at Skate America in October. The two teams are coached by two-time Olympians Jenni Meno and Todd Sand in Southern California.
“We do a great job of separating friendship from competitiveness,” said Knierim of the training setup. “Our coaches, they write the plan and they keep everything individualized from one (team to the next). So, we feel like we're being taken care of what we need for that day. But at the same time, our competitors are also getting what they need. It’s a healthy dynamic because you see them skate and it pushes you to do your program, run it a little bit better.”
Also in the pairs running: 2019 U.S. champs Ashley Cain Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, as well as Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov, who won the bronze at Skate America. Former U.S. champs Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea withdrew from the event, the two announcing an end to their partnership last month.
Dance: Training partners square off While competing against one another is still a new dynamic for Knierim/Frazier and Calalang/Johnson, it is near old habit for the top two ice dance teams, with Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates the reigning U.S. champions and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue two-time winners themselves.
Both duos are based in Montreal as part of an academy that features four-time world champs Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, but Chock/Bates haven’t seen competitive ice since winning at Four Continents last February, opting out of Skate America due to interrupted training time.
Hubbell/Donohue captured their third consecutive Skate America in Chock/Bates’ absence, setting up what could be a razor-thin showdown this coming weekend. Chock/Bates will need to tap into their bevvy of experience as two-time Olympians to be near their best, having not competed in so long.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker will be favoured to land on the podium with the top two squads, while another team to watch includes Caroline Green and Michael Parsons. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who placed fourth last year at nationals, withdrew after revealing they’d come in contact with a person who had tested positive for COVID-19.
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2021 5:44:38 GMT
In pairs (6 p.m. ET), three-time U.S. champion Alexa Knierim competes with a new partner, 2017 U.S. champion Brandon Frazier. Knierim’s husband, Chris, retired after the couple won last year’s national title.
Their top challengers include 2019 U.S. champions Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc and Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson, the surprise 2020 U.S. silver medalists.
Two pairs will be selected after Saturday’s free skate to compete at March’s world championships.
Key Skate Times 6:21 p.m. ET — Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier 6:35 — Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc 6:48 — Jessica Calalang/Brian Johnson
Alysa Liu, who in 2019 became the youngest U.S. champion ever at age 13, could become the first woman since Michelle Kwan to three-peat at nationals. Short program coverage begins at 9:10 p.m. ET on Peacock and 10 on NBCSN.
Liu, after a growth spurt, a hip injury and coaching changes, is not expected to attempt any triple Axels or quadruple jumps at nationals. More on that here.
That swings the door wide open for 2018 U.S. champion Bradie Tennell and 2020 Skate America winner Mariah Bell, plus more skaters eyeing a podium spot and, potentially, a place on the two-woman team for worlds. Liu is too young for senior worlds.
Key Skate Times 9:48 p.m. ET — Audrey Shin 10:15 — Mariah Bell 10:35 — Starr Andrews 10:41 — Karen Chen 11:11 — Amber Glenn 11:18 — Alysa Liu 11:31 — Gracie Gold 11:44 — Bradie Tennell
Moving past another setback, Gracie Gold looking for more progress at U.S.... 2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships TV, live stream schedule Nathan Chen digs into advanced statistics textbook while writing his own... WATCH LIVE: U.S. Figure Skating Championships pairs, women’s short programs originally appeared on NBCSports.com
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Post by Admin on Jan 16, 2021 4:11:40 GMT
Bradie Tennell, winner of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 2018 leading up to the PyeongChang Winter Games re-claimed her title with two stirring skates in Las Vegas, where the competition is taking place without fans at the Orleans Arena.
The 2018 Olympian scored a 153.21 in the free skate for a 232.61 overall.
Amber Glenn finished a career-best weekend, scoring a 215.33. Fellow PyeongChang 2018 Olympian Karen Chen was third, just behind Glenn at 214.98.
Earlier in the day, 2015 and 2020 U.S. champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates took the slimmest of leads in the ice dance, scoring a new national record of 90.10 in the rhythm dance, a 0.46 lead over training mates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, the 2018 and 2019 U.S. winners.
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Post by Admin on Jan 16, 2021 22:25:30 GMT
The same three women were in podium position after the short on Thursday, but this time Liu would finish fourth and Bell fifth. Amber Glenn, surprising even herself, and Karen Chen joined Tennell in the top three with totals of 215.33 and 214.98 respectively. Tennell’s margin of victory over Glenn was 17.28 points, the widest women’s margin since 2014, under a different scoring system. With eyes wide as can be and welling up with tears upon receiving her score, Glenn was stunned by her 144.50 free skate score. It was a new personal best by more than 19 points. Now 21, Glenn had won the junior title in 2014 and then continued to float just under the radar as a contender, with her senior nationals results ranging from 13th in 2015 to as high as fifth last year. “Wow, I’m still kind of in shock,” she said as she began to speak to the media. Glenn learned earlier in the day that she has a foot infection that has spread to her knee. Despite the injury, she was able to put together a strong performance, saying she was skating for herself. She had hoped this week to become the fifth U.S. woman to land a triple Axel, but fell short attempting it in her short program. “I kind of just released myself from all of those expectations and pressure, and just let myself skate,” Glenn said. Chen, the 2017 winner and a 2018 Olympian, reached her highest placement since the Olympic year with a free skate score of 143.99. Despite being the two-time defending champion, Liu said she entered expecting the “bare minimum” of herself. She grew three inches in the offseason, which meant relearning many of her jumps and keeping her signature triple Axel and quad lutz out of this week’s programs, and suffered a hip injury in October. “This was a very cool experience, especially because this was my first live competition [of the season]; I was happy to be here,” said Liu, who noted she is looking forward to returning home and train her quads. Bell entered as a favorite for the title after winning both of this season’s competitions, the virtual ISP Points Challenge and Skate America. In fifth after the short program, she fell to a distant fifth after a fall on her opening triple flip, among other errors. Her free skate earned 127.58 points. Audrey Shin, the surprise bronze medalist at Skate America in her debut senior season, jumped from 10th after the short to seventh with a redemptive free skate that scored 119.08 for a 176.82 total. 2014 Olympian Gracie Gold finished 13th, sliding back one spot from her short program placement after falling twice in the free skate.
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2021 4:07:30 GMT
Nathan Chen was put under a modicum of pressure at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and he delivered.
Chen nailed his most daunting short program jumping layout since 2018, landing a quadruple Lutz, a triple Axel and, in the second half, a quad flip-triple toe loop combination to top the standings in Las Vegas with 113.92 points.
“I’m really happy with the way this program went,” said Chen, though he shook his head afterward, noting his landings could have been better.
But Chen’s lead going into Sunday’s free skate is smaller than any of the last four years when he won the title. He is trying to become the first man to win five straight U.S. titles since Dick Button in the 1940s and ’50s.
The lead is significant but not insurmountable. It’s 6.13 points over childhood rival Vincent Zhou, who landed two quads in arguably the best short program of his career an hour before Chen skated at fan-less Orleans Arena.
Sochi Olympian Jason Brown, who received the highest artistic scores but lacked a quad, is in third.
Chen, undefeated globally since placing fifth at the PyeongChang Olympics, hasn’t been outscored by a countryman over a full competition since Adam Rippon did so at the 2016 Grand Prix France, when Chen was 17 years old.
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