Cain-Gribble and LeDuc take pairs lead at US championships

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc upstaged a brilliant performance by Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson on Thursday to take the lead after the pairs short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, skating last among the eight teams at Bridgestone Arena, were near-flawless in a program set to music from the 2018 biographical drama film “The White Crow.” It was highlighted by a soaring triple loop and piled up 79.39 points, a score that would have been third best in the world this season.

More importantly, it put the 2019 national champions ahead of Calalang and Johnson heading into the free skate at what amounts to the U.S. trials for the Beijing Olympics next month.

“We’re thrilled. It was exactly the way we wanted to skate,” Cain-Gribble said with a bright smile, “and we knew we had to be perfect with the program that went before, but we didn’t focus on that too much.”

Calalang and Johnson opened with a brilliant side-by-side triple salchow that has caused them problems in the past, and the reigning silver medalists finished with a tremendous lift that left them with 77.48 points after their short program.

Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov made a couple of mistakes and were in third place with 68.11 points.

The competition continued later Thursday with the women’s short program.

The U.S. has two pairs spots for the Beijing Games, and one of those could go to defending U.S. champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who were forced to withdraw Wednesday night following his positive COVID-19 test.

Knierim and Frazier plan to petition U.S. Figure Skating for one of the spots based on their exemplary scope of work. If they are successful, that would leave just one spot up for grabs; the pairs free skate takes place Saturday night.

“We’re aware of the process and I have been through it before,” said Knierim, who successfully petitioned to make the 2017 Four Continents with husband Chris after undergoing abdominal surgery. “It’s not a great feeling to go through it for anyone, but we are grateful that our federation has this mechanism.”

If there’s indeed one spot left for the taking, Cain-Gribble and LeDuc gave themselves the inside track. The pair, who had to halt work over the summer when Cain-Gribble was briefly hospitalized with COVID-19, looked as if they’d never been off the ice. They were effortless in the solo jumps that have caused them problems in the past, and now they can look ahead to the free skate, which has been their strength all season.

Calalang and Johnson also spent time off the ice, though for a much different reason: They spent several months fighting a positive test for a banned stimulant that was found to have been in one of Calalang’s cosmetics.

“What we went through was really awful. We didn’t even know if we would be here at this U.S. championships,” she said, “and if we learned anything this year — we just have really connected on such a deeper level.”

That was evident in their performance to a rocking version of The Beatles’ hit “Come Together” performed by Aerosmith.

“Every day is a new day,” Johnson said. “Go out there, enjoy, have fun and whatever happens, happens.”

___

More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports