Figure skating: Reigning champions Knierim/Frazier face Miura/Kihara on Japanese pair's home turf at 2023 worlds
The pairs event at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships is set to conclude first, on 23 March. The Americans face a challenging circumstance as coach Todd Sand remains in the hospital.
Figure Skating
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier made history for the U.S. when the duo captured the nation its first world title in pair skating in over 40 years in 2022.
They’ll approach the 2023 ISU World Figure Skating Championships this week (22-26 March) in Saitama, Japan, in a similar fashion to the one they used at the event 12 months ago in Montpellier, France.
“We didn't go in striving to win and be on top,” Knierim told Olympics.com in January, after the two won their second U.S. title.
“We went in striving to do our personal best. It's the first time we're in a position to go to the World Championships and defend a title, but I don't want to think about it that way. I think our approach is going to be just do our best... and hopefully that personal best will be the world's best.”
Knierim, who is a veteran at 31, said she’ll have her “blinders on” when the two stride into Saitama Super Arena for the pairs event, which is set for Wednesday and Thursday (22 & 23 March).
Not only are they attempting to defend their title while toppling this season’s red-hot duo in Japan’s Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi, but they’ll be doing so under extraordinary circumstances, with their coach, two-time Olympian Todd Sand, currently under hospital care after suffering from a major heart attack earlier this month.
“We are grinding,” Knierim wrote in an Instagram caption to the photo of Todd rink-side at Worlds last year. “Going to make you proud again.”
It’s a heart-wrenching twist in what is already a steep challenge for the U.S. duo, with Miura/Kihara having captured gold at every event they’ve skated in this season, including their lone head-to-head with the Americans at the Grand Prix Final.
“They may be the favorites going in, but I think our goal is to skate because we love it and we love ourselves on the ice,” Knierim said. “And that's all we're going to focus on.”
Knierim/ Frazier, Miura/ Kihara go head-to-head
It was weeks before Worlds last year when the International Skating Union (ISU) ruled Russian athletes out of competition. With Russian teams winning two pairs medals at Beijing 2022, it was Knierim/Frazier and Miura/Kihara who made the subsequent steep climb onto the top of the podium.
And while they both took that momentum into the 2022-23 season, the Japanese duo sat out nearly two months leading up to the Grand Prix Series after Miura injured her shoulder during an exhibition show.
The time off didn’t show: Miura/Kihara won both their Grand Prix stops before edging Knierim and Frazier by just 1.3 points (214.58 to 213.28) to become the first Japanese duo to win the Final in pairs. It was their lone meeting of the season.
Will the nearly 20,000-strong crowd help the home team or hinder them?
“They may be more comfortable [or] they may have more pressure,” explained Knierim. “But, you know, it's never predictable. And we've had experiences where we've competed on home soil and it does add more pressure and you kind of feel really tense. And other times, you live up to it because you know everybody wants you to be on top and you kind of rise to the occasion. And I think there's no way of predicting how they'll feel when they're there.”
Added Frazier: “They're a fierce team. They're a great team. I have a lot of respect for them. I've enjoyed competing against them specifically because they bring such a great energy for these high-level competitions. And I do think it pushes Alexa and I.”
What comes next for Knierim and Frazier?
Like the conversation swirling around many veteran skaters in the sport, the question looms for the Americans: Are they going to skate the entire four-year Olympic quad and look to compete at Milano Cortina 2026?
They have not officially said whether or not they will compete beyond this season, however, and at the U.S. Championships in January, Frazier reflected on their career together in terms of it being close to coming to a close.
"This week [U.S. Nationals] was really emotional for me because every practice, every minute, every element... I felt like I was reliving a little bit of every tough competition, successful competition," he said. "And then on top of it, [it was] a validation of what Alexa and I've done together as a team."
Knierim addressed 2026 head on - but with a caveat: They'd like to be present in some way there. But what way?
"I think 2026 right now seems really far away in the sense that we can't even imagine enduring the training that is needed for that, especially just finishing this last [2022] Olympics," she said.
"But I do know that whether I'm on the ice myself skating or off the ice, I want to be a part of that Olympics in a way that helps mentor and guides the skaters that could potentially make it," she added. "So maybe we won't be there competing, but I hope to be there in spirit in a way that influences the athletes going. So I do see myself having connection to it. Just not sure in which way."