Nation
Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier win USA's first pairs gold at worlds in 43 years
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With the top five pairs from last month’s Winter Olympics missing from the world figure skating championships, Americans Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier leaped into the void with the performance of their careers, becoming the first U.S. pair to win a world championship since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979.
As if the circumstances at the worlds in Montpellier, France, were not unusual enough already, Knierim and Frazier’s long program was delayed for several minutes when their U.S. teammate Ashley Cain-Gribble, skating with partner Timothy LeDuc, fell three times in the first two minutes of their program. Cain-Gribble hit her chin on the ice on the third fall and couldn’t get up as their music played on, laying and sitting on the ice for some time before she was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
U.S. Figure Skating said Cain-Gribble was taken to the hospital for “additional evaluation and observation.”
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc were in second place after the short program, in perfect position to win a medal before having to withdraw. They were the second-to-last skaters in the competition, followed only by Knierim and Frazier, the leaders after the short program who gave LeDuc a hug before they themselves took the ice.
“It’s startling,” Knierim said afterward. “You realize how dangerous skating can be. Even when you are prepared, things can happen.”
“Our hearts go out to (Cain-Gribble and LeDuc),” Frazier said. “They’re our friends first, competitors second, so we were naturally really concerned to see what was going on with them.”
Knierim and Frazier won the gold medal with ease, scoring 221.09 points, more than 20 points ahead of Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara with 199.55 points and Canada’s Vanessa James and Eric Radford with 197.32. The gold medal was the first medal of any kind won by a U.S. pair at worlds in 20 years.
Knierim and Frazier, who missed the national championships in January when Frazier tested positive for COVID-19, finished sixth at the Beijing Olympics behind gold medalists Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, Russian pairs in second, third and fourth place, and another Chinese pair in fifth.
The Russians subsequently were banned from the worlds, not because of the state-sponsored doping that produced the Kamila Valieva scandal in Beijing, but because of their nation’s invasion of Ukraine. China chose not to send its skaters to worlds.
So the world pairs title was there for the taking, and the Americans rose to the occasion, scoring personal bests in both their short and long programs.
“I always dreamed but never actually thought it was possible,” Knierim said.
Added Frazier: “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the season. For Alexa and I this was such a personal journey since we started, so to finish the season on this kind of program that means so much to us dearly, I dreamed about this moment so many times but this was even better.”
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Uber, Lyft made safety improvements, but many of those protect riders more than drivers. But drivers are also in danger.
Naomi Ogutu
Opinion contributor
I’ve been a rideshare driver in New York City for six years, and I take pride in my job and helping my passengers get where they need to go safely. But my safety is not a guarantee. I’m a mom of three. I need to know that I’ll make it home to my kids at the end of each night.
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Business
'A bad déjà vu': Under the crush of Western sanctions, Russians fear a return to dark economic days
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Harsh sanctions from Western nations on Russia have reminded citizens of the country’s 1998 debt crisis.
By Anna Nemtsova
USA TODAY
- McDonalds and other American businesses have closed in Russia amid its invasion into Ukraine.
- One expert estimates more than 200,000 Russians have left the country since the start of the war.
- To counter economic turmoil, Putin has demand “unfriendly” countries pay for natural gas exports in rubles.
The once bustling corner of Moscow’s central Tverskaya Street looked deserted on Wednesday, as Russia’s first-ever McDonald’s franchise – opened in 1990 in a move that symbolized the Soviet Union’s opening to the West – shut its doors.
A large mural depicting a giant, Soviet-era medal – the Order of Victory, the highest military decoration awarded in World War II — loomed over over the empty sidewalk.
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The lone No. 1 seed still alive heading into the Elite Eight, Kansas needs only a win against No. 10 Miami (Fla.) to book a spot in the Final Four.
No. 2 Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski can make one last Final Four and chase one final national championship by beating No. 4 Arkansas.
No. 2 Villanova can reach the national semifinals for the third time in six tournaments by winning what should be a defense-dominated brawl against No. 5 Houston.
And after beating No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16, No. 8 North Carolina is one win from reaching the Final Four under first-year coach Hubert Davis.
If everything goes according to plan, this year’s Final Four will consist of some of the biggest names in the history of the sport.
But the last week has taught us that this year’s NCAA Tournament will inevitably deviate from the script.
So look for the Jayhawks to be shocked in the Elite Eight, as the Bill Self collection of tournament collapses adds another painful chapter. Based on how things have gone through three rounds, Arkansas is a lock to send Krzyzewski into retirement one game shy of the Final Four. Villanova may be a two-time champion under Jay Wright, but the Wildcats will be smothered by Houston.
And, of course, the Tar Heels will lose to the team that embodies the wackiness and uncertainty of this entire tournament.
Saint Peter’s stands at the precipice of another outlandish achievement: being the first No. 15 seed — the first seed lower than No. 11, in fact — to reach the Final Four.
The Peacocks will be the underdog once again come Sunday, when they’ll match against a deeper and more talented opponent with decades of history to more than overshadow the Peacocks’ three-game run.
But beating another college basketball giant will simply take what we already know the Peacocks can bring to the table: Saint Peter’s reached the Elite Eight with energy, aggressiveness and composure, following the model set by unflappable coach Shaheen Holloway, and that same combination will give the Peacocks a chance at etching themselves into an even more permanent place in NCAA Tournament history.
“We’re happy but don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied, we’re not satisfied at all,” said guard Doug Edert. “The job is not finished. We feel like we belong and the more games we win the more confidence we build.”
That sounds like bad news for the Tar Heels, who might’ve righted the ship after a poor start to ACC play but could be the latest blueblood to the Peacocks’ formula.
At some point, the magic has to run out — for Saint Peter’s, which somehow keeps stacking upsets of higher-ranked opponents, and for the tournament at large, which has been wackier than ever but could suddenly snap back to the status quo.
But this March has not gone according to plan. Several big names lost early. Others failed to get out of the second round. The story of this year’s tournament has been upsets, shockers, letdowns, unpredictable officiating and unpredictability, period — why should the next two days be any different?
Follow colleges reporter Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg
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