US Olympic Figure Skating 2022: America's Short Program Top Scorers, Highlights

Team USA figure skating is looking for a strong finish to the 2022 Beijing Olympics with a medal in pairs skating.

Americans have earned three medals during the competition so far, headlined by Nathan Chen's gold in men's singles. Two teams will look to add to that count with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier slightly ahead of Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc after the short program Friday. 

Here are the select standings through the first day of competition.

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Pairs Short Program

1. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong (CHN): 84.41

2. Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (ROC): 84.25

3. Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov (ROC): 82.76

6. Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA): 74.23

7. Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy Leduc (USA): 74.13

Full results via Olympics.com.

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Knierim and Frazier had an early starting slot and set a high bar for their competitors with a 74.23.

The routine featured some impressive technical elements to move to the top of the standings:

There was a positive reaction from those watching along:

The competitors were also happy with their effort:

Other teams eventually produced better scores, but Knierim and Frazier have a chance to climb the standings if they can perform to expectations in Saturday's free skate.

This duo represented the United States in the team competition on the way to a silver medal, producing the third-best score in the short program. A fifth-place effort in the free skate still left much to be desired, putting pressure on the upcoming performance.

Cain-Gribble and Leduc are also in contention after their short program, scoring a 74.13 with several highlights along the way:

The 34.22 presentation score was higher than that of Knierim and Frazier, including an 8.71 mark for interpretation of music.

The routine was still far from perfect, and the mistakes proved costly:

With the Chinese and Russian Olympic Committee teams scoring well, it could be an uphill battle for either American duo to finish in the top three.

The United States consistently produces elite athletes in figure skating, although the pairs competition has been an Achilles' heel for the program. The last Americans to medal in this discipline were Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard in 1988.