Knierim and Frazier, Levito, Chock and Bates Take First Step Toward Gold

Championship-level skaters took the ice for the first time on day three of the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California, with the pairs and women's short programs as well as the rhythm dance.
 
World Champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier took a commanding 15-point lead and set a new U.S. Championships record for the top-ever score in the championship pairs short program. After skating in their first Grand Prix Final last month, Emily Chan and Spencer Howe stand in second place. The new partnership of Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea are in third while Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez round out the top four.
 
Grand Prix Final silver medalist Isabeau Levito finished in first place in the women's short program, and will take a narrow .02 point lead over two-time U.S. champion Bradie Tennell into the free skate. Starr Andrews, the 2022 Skate Canada silver medalist, leads Amber Glenn, the 2020 U.S. silver medalist, by just .01 point, for third place, setting up a compelling showdown in Friday's free skate when the podium will be decided.
 
In ice dance, Madison Chock and Evan Bates kicked off their campaign to capture a fourth U.S. Championships title and lead the way after Thursday's rhythm dance competition. Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, fourth a year ago, sit in second place, while Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik finished in third after skating together for just eight months. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko also are in medal position in fourth.
 
The day began with the final junior competition as the women battled for a place on the podium. In the end, it was the short program leader, 13-year-old Soho Lee, who came away with the gold medal, capturing the title by more than a dozen points over the rest of the field. Keira Hilbelink, who earned a place in the draw by finishing in the top two at the Pacific Coast Sectional novice women's competition, came away with the silver medal. Elyce Lin-Gracey and Sherry Zhang rounded out the podium with the bronze and pewter medals, respectively.
 
Championship Pairs Short Program

Knierim and Frazier were on fire with their "Stranger Things" inspired program to Journey's "Separate Ways," earning 81.96 points – the first team to break the 80-point barrier in U.S. Championships history. At the close of the program, the leaders took some time to take in the audience and enjoy what they had just accomplished.
 
"I think I was nervous today because I wanted to have that special program," Knierim admitted. "It wasn't about the score or winning or anything like that. It was about stepping off of the ice feeling accomplished comparing how we skate at home in practice. I wanted to take a little bit longer after the music ended because I have learned in this long career I've had that the most special times are the ones that go by too fast, and I just wanted to continue moving forward and embrace the present moment and just be grateful that I am able to do this."
 
The Grand Prix Final silver medalists and 2021 U.S. champions opened with a triple twist in which Knierim soared high above the ice, drawing gasps from the San Jose crowd. The duo showed much improvement on their triple toe loops just before they nailed their throw triple flip. Knierim and Frazier closed out the routine by notching Level Fours for the rest of their elements — their Axel lasso lift, a combination spin, the step sequence and the death spiral.  
 
"I think Alexa and I's goal this season was just to go out there and improve," Frazier said. "I think this program was a step up from our last event. It always feels good to put it out at the U.S. Championships, but I would say that this is a very good strong performance, and we both feel very good about it."
 
The pewter medalists in this competition a year ago, Chan and Howe continued their upward trajectory this season by finishing in second place with 66.86 points, a new domestic personal best.
 
"It wasn't a perfect skate — we had a little bobble here and there," Howe stated. "Overall, it's one of those things where once we get out there, we always enjoy the high energy that this program brings to us. Having the crowd out there cheering us on today was just awesome."
 
Skating to Nyah by CH2, the Grand Prix Finalists opened their routine with a triple twist and a solid throw triple loop. Chan then fell on the solo triple toe loop jumps, but she and Howe recovered well, closing out the program with a Level Three reverse lasso lift and three elements that earned the coveted Level Four designation. 
 
"I feel like going to the Grand Prix events and the Final really gave us some good experience together as a team competing in different environments with different audiences," Chan said. "So, to be here, that experience really helped us with our performance."
 
Kam and O'Shea, who have only skated together for the last five months, finished in third place with a new personal best of 65.75 points at their first major domestic competition.
 
"I am really grateful for this experience. It's my first senior Nationals, and it's crazy exciting," Kam said. "I get to experience it with a great new friend. It's very exciting and I am super blessed for this opportunity."
 
Despite small errors on their opening triple twist and successive solo triple Salchows, the duo showed great promise in such a short amount of time. The program, set to Josh Groban and Charlotte Church's version of "The Prayer," featured three Level Four elements and a Level Three death spiral. Kam and O'Shea opted for an easier throw double loop, leaving room for improvement as this partnership progresses.
 
"I was very happy. This was Ellie's first senior Nationals, and I am very of the work that we've put together in a short time," O'Shea said. "There is a lot of opportunity for growth for where we are with the short time. It's exciting."
 
Plazas and Fernandez are fourth with a new personal best 63.45 points for their "West Side Story" inspired program.
 
Championship Women's Short Program

Skating last in the 18-woman draw, Levito showed no signs of nerves in being the favorite in this competition. The 15-year-old was composed throughout her "Una Noche Mas" (Yasmin Levy) routine and seemed to check off the required elements one by one with relative ease.
 
"I feel like I've gotten very good at suppressing nerves," Levito stated. "Of course you can't do it entirely and I still I still feel the effect of the competition in general, but I find my own ways mentally to handle it and I feel like it's been working pretty good for me."
 
The reigning U.S. bronze medalist skated without error, earning Level Fours on each of her spins as well as the step sequence. The star of the show, however, was the catlike landings on each of her jumping passes, which included a triple flip and a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination.
 
"It just felt so great. I love being at Championships — it's always such a great atmosphere and environment," Levito said. "I am very satisfied with my short program today."
 
Levito earned a new personal best short program score of 73.78 points.
 
Since Tennell's last appearance in the U.S. Championships two years ago when she clinched her second U.S. gold, the 24-year-old has struggled with nagging injuries and relocated to France to train to further explore her potential in the sport. After her short program, Tennell was feeling nostalgic about being back in the same arena where she won her first title back in 2018.
 
"It felt so great to be back on Nationals ice, especially here in this arena," Tennell shared. "It felt kind of like a full circle moment for me. This is kind of where all of my skating craziness started, so I'm really happy to be back here."
 
Skating to "Restrictus" by Mario Batkovic, Tennell masterfully blended complicated and brooding choreography with strong technical elements that garnered the Illinois native 73.76 points in the short program. Tennell opened with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination and earned Level Fours on her layback spin and step sequence. She lost points, however, on a Level One flying sit spin and the closing combination spin.
 
"This was a very long time in the making," Tennell said. "I definitely had my fair share of bumps in the road on the way here but overall, I am really happy with my performance. I made a silly on the final spins because I got a little excited, so we're going to take that in stride and move forward for the long program."
 
Andrews made her U.S. Championships debut on the senior level in this very arena six years ago, earning a standing ovation and a sixth-place finish. Wearing the same red body suit she did in that competition in 2018, Andrews manifested yet another standing ovation for herself with the best short program that she has ever produced at the U.S. Championships.
 
"Of course, I wondered if that was going to happen again but also, I've been training so hard this year and my perspective on competition has also changed as I got older," Andrews explained. "It's kind of full circle and it was really amazing to be out there. I felt really comfortable and confident, and I've been training really well, so I kind of didn't have any doubts in my mind and just went out there and did my thing."
 
Set to Demi Lovato's "Dancing with the Devil", Andrews started her routine with her signature triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination. The program also included a solo triple loop as well as four Level Four elements, earning the 21-year-old 68.97 points.
 
"I honestly was just trying to skate how I've been skating in practice," Andrews said. "Having good practices definitely helps with confidence going out there and that was my high score that I've gotten in my short at the U.S. Championships, so that was really exciting."
 
Glenn, who plans to attempt a triple Axel in her free skate, made a small error on her triple loop jump, but remains in podium position with 68.96 points.
 
Championship Rhythm Dance

Chock and Bates skated a rousing performance to Ben Liebrand's remix of David Bowie's classic "Let's Dance." The three-time World medalists energized the audience with their samba and rhumba moves, which were straight out of professional ballroom competition.
 
"The U.S. Championships is always a very special competition for us," Chock said after competition. "It's one that we look forward to every year just because of the kind of special magic that it always seems to hold, and this year was no different."
 
The leaders earned Level Fours on their twizzles, the pattern dance and the curve lift, and Level three on the midline step sequence.
 
"We had so much fun performing out there — I almost had too much fun," Chock admitted. "I was enjoying myself so much that I had to remind myself to stay focused on the midline (steps). But you know it was it was a really great time and it felt so great to be back here in San Jose."
 
After a late start to their season, Chock and Bates are feeling like they are where they need to be at this point in the season. The engaged couple earned 91.90 points in the rhythm dance, just .04 points from their personal best in last year's competition, and 10 points higher than their closest competitor.
 
"I'd say we're right on track we're exactly where we need to be going into the second half of the season," Chock said confidently. "We've put in a lot of great work back home between the (Grand Prix) Final and still have a good stretch of time before Worlds to make some more gains and look forward to continuing to push ourselves and evolve our programs."
 
After an up and down autumn season, Green and Parsons looked well-prepared in their samba-rhumba medley program. The duo seemed crisper and more synchronized than they had in previous seasons, the product of a new approach to their skating as a team.
 
"I think so far in our career together we've just really relied on our individual qualities as skaters," Green explained. "So, to kind of realize that we need to merge our efforts as one in order to take a step to the next level is something we've really been pushing ourselves to work on. I think it's something that's not going to happen overnight, but we are definitely starting to feel like that is coming together."
 
The reigning Four Continents champions earned Level Fours on their twizzles and curve lift but had to settle for a Level Three pattern dance and a Level Two midline step sequence.
 
Green and Parsons amassed a personal best score of 81.40 points in the rhythm dance.
 
"The program was good," Parsons assessed. "We're just showing the progression of our character and of our presentation. I wish I could say that we executed everything today, but I think this was a good step along the road for us. We're happy with everything in general, but of course there's always things to fix and the worst time to think about that is right after you finish the program."
 
A year ago, Zingas was representing Cyprus in women's singles and Kolesnik, the 2020 World Junior champion, was without a partner. When the opportunity to try out presented itself, Zingas decided to shelve her singles career and dip her blades into the ice dance pool.
 
"The first time I skated with Emilea I felt something special," Kolesnik said. "I felt like I can be myself. She opens up in the way that I want to skate and that's how it comes out — freedom."
 
Despite limited training time together, there was no evidence of nerves in the duo's "Conga" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine) and "Tan Sola" (Sole Gimenez) program. Zingas and Kolesnik exhilarated the audience with their peppy choreography, but also were rewarded by the judges for their Level Four pattern dance and rotational lift.
 
"We have had a lot of really great support from our coaching team and my parents were really supportive when I needed decision to transition to dance," Zingas said. "I think one part that I have always loved about skating is performing so that part of transition came really easily. The harder part was learning how to skate next to somebody else and doing all the tricks. But I think just a lot of time and dedication and passion for the sport we really both love to skate and day in and day out we work our hardest to improve ourselves."
 
Zingas and Kolesnik earned 78.81 points for their efforts.
 
2020 pewter medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are fourth with 77.34 points. Three other teams are within three points of the podium, setting the stage for an incredible fight for the podium in Saturday's free dance.
 
Junior Women's Free Skate 

En route to gold, Lee's performance was a balance of strong technical elements and delicate ballet-inspired choreography to Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." The champion opened with a small mistake on an intended triple Lutz combination that seemed to fuel the southern California native to step up her level of intensity in the rest of the program.
 
"I missed my first combo so that was a big mistake for me, but I think the rest of the program was pretty good," she said. "At the Junior Grand Prix, I had the same mistake and learned that it is best to put it behind me and continue with the program."
 
Lee's program featured five more triple jumps, including a triple flip-double Axel sequence, and she achieved the Level Four designation for each of her spins.
 
"I am proud of the flip-Axel," Lee admitted. "It was one of my last jumps and I have been struggling with it. I was happy to be able to get that out."
 
Lee earned 114.80 points in the free skate and a total of 181.14 points on her way to the title, both new U.S. personal bests.
 
"It is really amazing," she said of winning the gold medal. "This is my first Championships, so this just completes a really great experience."
 
At just 12 years of age, Hilbelink was the youngest athlete in the women's competition, but performed with the confidence of an experienced competitor.
 
"I was really excited and I'm just really happy to get it over with," she said after her skate. "I am even more happy that I did my best."
 
Skating to "What a Wonderful World" by Lexi Walker and The Piano Guys, the silver medalist landed seven clean triple jumps in the program, including a triple loop-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Hilbelink also earned a Level Four designation on her combination spin and flying camel spin.
 
"I feel it was the best I have done this season, and I think that I would like to keep it that way," Hilbelink said. "The mindset that I had was to just have fun — this is my first Championships, and everyone told me that, too.
 
For her efforts, Hilbelink earned 112.94 points in the free skate and 167.99 points overall, eclipsing both of her previous personal bests.
 
Second after the short program, Lin-Gracey was able to hold on for the bronze medal after a few mistakes in her "Moonlight Sonata" free skate. The 15-year-old landed three triple jumps and earned the coveted Level Four on each of her three spins in the routine. She earned exactly 100 points in the free skate and 165.57 points overall.
 
"It wasn't the performance I would have expected today based on how my training has been going," Lin-Gracey shared. "I think I got a bit too up in my legs and I didn't control my movements as strong as I can."
 
Zhang held on for the pewter medal after a rough start in her free skate. Set the Jennifer Thomas's "A Beautiful Storm," the 14-year-old finished her routine with two strong triple loop jumps — one in combination — and earned Level Fours on each of her three spins to finish with 99.70 points in the free skate.
 
"I'm definitely a little disappointed because I really tried," she said. "I feel like I give my 200% every day to my practices, and I feel like I worked really hard."
 
Zhang finished the competition with 161.08 points.
 
Competition continues on Friday with the championship women's free skate and men's short program. Follow all the action on the 2023 Toyota U.S. Championships Competition Central.