Elliott: Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc set pairs record at U.S. championships

Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc performed a challenging but elegant short program on Thursday to set a national record for pair skaters and take the lead after the first phase of the U.S. figure skating championships in Nashville, Tenn.

Their score of 79.39, comprised of 44.54 points for technical elements and 34.85 for program components, broke the record of 77.48 points set about an hour earlier by Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson, who train at Great Park Ice in Irvine.

Calalang and Johnson’s assured performance to “Come Together” drew a standing ovation, as did the “The White Crow” program skated by Cain-Gribble and Johnson. “We’re thrilled,” Cain-Gribble said in a TV interview. “We knew we had to be perfect because of the program before us.”

Calalang and Johnson, who finished second at the two previous U.S. championships, are coached by former U.S. champions and longtime Southern California residents Jenni Meno and Todd Sand.

Calalang and Johnson earned 43.25 points for their technical elements and 34.23 points for their program components. The pairs competition will end Saturday, with the free skate phase. The U.S. can send two pairs to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who also train in Irvine and were favored to repeat as U.S. champions, withdrew Wednesday after Frazier tested positive for COVID-19. They reportedly will petition to be included on the Olympic team providing he can prove he has fully recovered.

“It has been shocking and devastating for us to process what has happened,” Knierim said on Instagram, adding that Frazier was vaccinated and had received a booster shot, and that they both had followed “necessary precautions” leading up to the U.S. competition, including practicing separately from Calalang and Johnson.

A selection committee will determine who will get the Olympic berths allotted to the U.S. and will consider skaters’ performances in national and international competitions over the year. Three men’s singles competitors, three women’s singles competitors and three ice dance teams also will go to Beijing.

There is precedent for sending a skater to the Olympics if that skater had medical reasons for being unable to compete at the U.S. championships. In 2006, Michelle Kwan was unable to compete at the U.S. championships but successfully petitioned to become a member of the Turin team. However, a hip injury led her to withdraw before the women’s event began, and she was replaced by Emily Hughes.