Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier lead American 1-2 in pair skating short program at Worlds

Just over a month after their career-best performance at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, American pair skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are still as motivated as ever.

The duo showed as much on Wednesday (23 March), when they skated into first place at the World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France, in the pairs short program.

Their 76.88 tops the field, with American teammates Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc in second, scoring a 75.85 to sit just over a point behind Knierim/Frazier.

Japan's Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi are third, earning a 71.58 after Miura put her hand down on the ice to stay up on the team's throw triple Lutz jump.

Karina Safina and Luka Berulava of Georgia and Vanessa James and Eric Radford from Canada went four-five, scoring 67.36 and 66.54, respectively.

Earlier this month, the International Skating Union announced that "no skaters belonging to the ISU Members in Russia and Belarus shall be invited or allowed to participate in international ice skating competitions," including the world championships.

The pairs field is therefore without reigning Olympic silver medallists Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, as well as 2021 world champs Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov. Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China are also not in attendance.

Knierim/Frazier were sixth in Beijing, while Cain-Gribble/LeDuc and Miura/Kihara were eighth and seventh, respectively. While Knierim/Frazer won the U.S. title in 2021, Cain-Gribble/LeDuc captured it in both 2019 and 2022.

Earlier in the day, the women's short program kicked off the proceedings. Sakamoto Kaori leads with a score of 80.32. The pairs teams will take to the ice for the free skate on Thursday evening local time, starting at 1916 local.

MORE: Follow all the action from Montpellier in our live blog

Knierim/Frazier: Personal best puts team on cusp of history

The last American duo to win a world medal was Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman in 2002, when they captured bronze. Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner are the most recent U.S. team to win a world title, in 1979.

The U.S. teams both skated strongly on Wednesday evening, Knierim/Frazier earning a personal best score thanks to a level 3 triple twist to start, side-by-side triple toe-loops and a throw triple flip, each which earned a positive GOE (Grade of Execution).

"Alexa and I are just very proud of putting out a personal best," Frazier said. "Every time we go out, we're trying to grow and grow in the performance. We are very happy."

The top five teams from the Olympics are missing from the field, however, a noticeable change to the pairs event, which Frazier said his team acknowledged, but were trying not to dwell on.

"We can't control circumstances," Frazier continued. "We focus on ourselves and our potential. We viewed this as an opportunity. That's what we're focused on."

Cain-Gribble put her hand down to stay up on the team's side-by-side triple loop.

It was Miura who had to save her team's aforementioned throw triple Lutz, though the duo were the highest scored of the top three teams in Program Components (artistry) with 35.15 points.

"We know that we made a big mistake and we also failed to get our levels where we wanted," said Kihara. "But our biggest goal for us is to finish with a smile on our faces, and we were able to achieve that so we are happy."