AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics wrapped up Saturday with China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong winning pairs gold after the free skate competition.
Neither of the United States’ pairs was able to medal, but it was still a good day for the country in an event that has been a problem in recent Olympics.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished seventh in the free skate and sixth overall with a total score of 212.68. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc came in ninth in the free skate and eighth overall (198.05 total score).
Sui and Han held serve after entering the day in the driver’s seat. The Chinese duo set a world record in the short program with an 84.41 Friday.
They didn’t quite hit the world-record mark in the free skate, but their score of 155.47 was just enough to beat Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov for the top spot.
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“And the journey ends.”<br><br>China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong end their free skate with a GLORIOUS lift! ???? <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinterOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WinterOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/PfoCP6azns”>pic.twitter.com/PfoCP6azns</a>
Pairs Free Skate Results, Total Scores
1. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong (China): 239.88
2. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (Russian Olympic Committee): 239.25
3. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (Russian Olympic Committee): 237.71
4. Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (Russian Olympic Committee): 220.50
5. Cheng Peng and Yang Jin (China): 214.84
6. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (United States): 212.68
7. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan): 211.89
8. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc (United States): 198.05
9. Karina Safina and Luka Berulava (Georgia): 192.44
10. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro (Canada): 181.37
11. Laura Barquero and Marco Zandron (Spain): 181.36
12. Vanessa James and Eric Radford (Canada): 180.99
13. Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise (Italy): 179.87
14. Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (Italy): 165.43
15. Hailey Kops and Evgeni Krasnopolski (Israel): 153.82
16. Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert (Germany): 149.69
Full standings via Olympics.com
The United States had two teams finish in the top eight at the Olympics for the first time since 1998. Knierim and Frazier’s sixth-place finish was the highest by an American pair since 2002 (Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, fifth place).
LeDuc’s appearance at the Olympics alone was a big story. They became the first out nonbinary athlete to compete at the Winter Games on Friday in the short program.
Saturday’s free skate was the cherry on top of a memorable two-week period for LeDuc.
NBC Olympics @NBCOlympics
“It’s been quite a journey to not only be here, but to be here authentically.”<a href=”https://twitter.com/taralipinski?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@taralipinski</a> reflects on Timothy LeDuc’s journey to becoming the first publicly out nonbinary Winter Olympian. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinterOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WinterOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6sLIPR5ZYx”>pic.twitter.com/6sLIPR5ZYx</a>
LeDuc and Cain-Gribble were deducted two points in the free skate for failing to properly land two tricks and downgrading their double toeloop during their fifth element.
Knierim and Frazier had no such problems. They executed everything at a high level. Their best element was the group 5 axel lasso lift 4 that earned them a score of 9.50.
The presentation score of 69.48 for Knierim and Frazier was seventh out of 15 pairs. Only the top five finishers and Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara were ahead of them in that part of the competition.
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.<a href=”https://twitter.com/alexa_knierim?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@alexa_knierim</a> and <a href=”https://twitter.com/Brandon_F1992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Brandon_F1992</a> are BEAMING! ???? <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinterOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WinterOlympics</a><br><br>????: <a href=”https://twitter.com/USA_Network?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@USA_Network</a> and <a href=”https://twitter.com/peacockTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@peacockTV</a> <br>????: <a href=”https://t.co/DaRR18atEa”>https://t.co/DaRR18atEa</a> <a href=”https://t.co/sSzOQ5yNp7″>pic.twitter.com/sSzOQ5yNp7</a>
If it wasn’t apparent after the short program that the top three pairs were on a different level than everyone else, it certainly was during the free skate.
Before Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov took the ice, their Russian Olympic Committee teammates Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii had the high score of the day (141.94).
Once Mishina and Galliamov came out for their routine, the performances got better and better with nearly flawless productions from the top three teams.
Mishina and Galliamov earned a score of 154.95 for their free skate routine. They actually finished with the highest element score of any team Saturday (79.71), buoyed by a 10.02 mark for their triple salchow+single euler+triple salchow.
Tarasova and Morozov needed a score of at least 153.46 to pass Mishina and Galliamov. They had no problems hitting that mark, getting a 78.01 element score and 76.99 technical score for a total of 155.00 to move into the lead by 1.54 points.
By virtue of going last, Sui and Han knew the mark they needed to capture gold. There was a moment during their routine when it looked like they were vulnerable when their triple salchow was downgraded to earn .65 points, but they immediately made up for it with a group 5 axel lasso lift 4 that was worth 10 points.
It was ultimately the element score of 78.61 that pushed Sui and Han past Tarasova and Morozov (78.01 element score) on the leaderboard.
Sui and Han became the first pairs figure skating team to win Olympic gold in their home country since Russia’s Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov did it at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
All of the figure skaters in Beijing will take the ice one more time before the closing ceremony. The exhibition gala will begin at 11:30 p.m. on NBC.
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