Post by Admin on Mar 30, 2022 18:31:21 GMT
U.S. skating champion Ashley Cain-Gribble suffered a bad fall and was stretchered off the ice at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday - before Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier became the first Americans to win a world pairs title since 1979.
Cain-Gribble, 26, and skating partner Timothy LeDuc, 31, went into the long program at the Montpellier, South France competition as hot favorites. They were second after their short program earlier this week, competing against ten other partnerships in the pairs free skate yesterday.
But during an attempted triple Salchow jump, Cain-Gribble lost her balance and came crashing down. She had already fallen twice during the routine, but the final fall brought the couple's program to a sudden stop.
Medics dashed over with a wheeled stretcher after the hard fall and checked Cain-Gribble for a concussion.
As she received treatment, one spectator shouted: 'We love you, Ash!'
She tearfully apologized to partner LeDuc, who refused to accept it and instead consoled their heartbroken partner.
LeDuc was the first openly non-binary athlete to compete at the Winter Olympic Games. LeDuc and Cain-Gribble are the 2019 and 2022 US champions and finished eighth in their Olympic debut in February.
Cain-Gribble was taken to the hospital for 'additional evaluation and observation', according to U.S. Skating.
The shocking fall overshadowed the victory by fellow Americans Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who took home the United States' first world pairs title since 1979.