SAN JOSE, Calif.WASHINGTON/January 4, 2018 (AP)(STL.News) —
When he stumbled just before a key element in their short Program, Chris Knierim didn’t lose his perspective.
After he and wife Alexa Scimeca-Knierim won the competition Thursday at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he didn’t lose his sense of humor, either.
“She tried to trip me,” he joked.
“It was a pretty close call,” his wife said. “I cut a hole in his pants. I did nick it.”
They also stood atop the field heading into Saturday’s free skate for the one pairs spot the United States gets at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Both quickly recovered from his misstep for a Throw Triple Flip that they pulled off superbly. The rest of their program was not perfect — Chris stepped out a side-by-side triple salchow — but it was good enough for 71.10 points. Much of that was built on a huge triple twist lift to open the program.
“We had two mistakes, little ones, but we were just happy to be back at the U.S. championships and it was a really good event,” Alexa said.
The 2015 national champions who have battled injuries the last two years were 2.17 points ahead of Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea. With 67.84 points were Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Nathan Bartholomay, a 2014 Sochi Olympian with a different partner.
Pairs in the United States has struggled competitively for years and has seen ice dance surpass it. Thursday’s short program, though, was performed at a higher level than at recent National Championships.
“There is a dark rain cloud over U.S. pairs,” Kayne said. “It’s going to take a while of consistent teams that stay together — we’re staying together now. You have teams that have been together for years.”
The Knierims lead the way, despite his nearly ruining the routine just before the throw triple flip.
“We’ve had that experience before where right before something happens and you have to be so trained, so focused that it didn’t matter,” Alexa said, “and that was us today.”
She was sidelined in the past with a serious gastro illness, but the Knierims appear healthy now, and hope to a quad twist in the free skate.
Kayne and O’Shea, the 2016 U.S. champs, missed last year’s nationals because of Kayne’s concussion. Their return to this stage featured a smooth and effortless performance to “Phantom of the Opera.”
Stellato-Dudek, 34, is making a comeback after a lengthy retirement from the sport. She was a top junior singles skater and won silver at junior worlds in 2000. But hip injuries soon sidelined her, and she left skating until trying again as a pairs skater in 2016. Bartholomay went to the 2014 Olympics with Felicia Zhang.
The tightness of the competition for one Olympic spot is not wearing on them, she insisted
“It’s not like we’re thinking about that going into a jump,” Stellato-Dudek said.
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By BARRY WILNER, AP Sports Writer, By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (AS)
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