US Figure Skating Championships 2023: Results, Latest Schedule After Saturday

The 2023 United States Figure Skating Championships at SAP Center in San Jose, California, are beginning to wind down, and Saturday's competition saw the championship ice dance free dance and championship pairs free skate take center ice.

Saturday's action kicked off with the championship ice dance free dance competition, and the pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates dazzled with a score of 137.85 to claim the top spot.

With their score in the free dance plus their score of 91.90 in the rhythm dance, Chock and Bates captured their fourth U.S. ice dance title together with a final score of 229.75.

The championship pairs free skate followed, and the pair of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier squashed the competition, earning a score of 146.01 to capture their second U.S. pairs' title.

Knierim and Frazier also topped the pairs short program leaderboard with a score of 81.96 to bring their combined score to 227.97.

Here's a look at Saturday's results, the remaining schedule and some highlights of the action.

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Championship Ice Dance: Free Dance (Top 5; Overall)

1. Madison Chock, All Year FSC/Evan Bates, Ann Arbor FSC: 229.75
2. Caroline Green, Pavilion SC of Cleveland Heights/Michael Parsons, Washington FSC: 207.46
   
3. Christina Carreira, SC of New York/Anthony Ponomarenko, SC of San Francisco: 198.45
   
4. Emilea Zingas, St. Clair Shores FSC/Vadym Kolesnik, SC of New York: 198.13
5. Emily Bratti, Washington FSC/Ian Somerville, Washington FSC: 189.84
   

Full scores available at usfigureskating.org

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Championship Pairs: Free Skate (Top 5; Overall)

1. Alexa Knierim, DuPage FSC/Brandon Frazier, All Year FSC: 227.97
2. Emily Chan, SC of Boston/Spencer Howe, SC of Boston: 196.86
   
3. Ellie Kam, Thunderbirds FSC/Danny OShea, SC of New York: 184.01
   
4. Sonia Baram, Los Angeles FSC/Daniel Tioumentsev, Dallas FSC: 179.08
   
5. Valentina Plazas, Panthers FSC/Maximiliano Fernandez, Arctic FSC: 176.34
   

Full scores available at usfigureskating.org

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Remaining Schedule

Sunday, Jan. 29

Championship Men/Free Skate: 2:45 p.m. ET

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Highlights

The duo of Chock and Bates was dominant throughout the ice dance competition in San Jose. Their 229.75-point total was 22.29 points higher than the second-place duo of Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, which is the largest margin of victory in a U.S. ice dance competition since 2011, per OlympicTalk.

Chock and Bates are the first couple in their 30s to win a U.S. title in the last 50 years, per OlympicTalk. Chock is 30 and Bates is 33. The duo's win also marks their 11th consecutive podium finish at nationals.

"This is probably the best we've ever skated in our careers," Bates said on NBC, per OlympicTalk. "I think that's the statement that we wanted to make."

Chock and Bates now have their sights set on winning gold at the world championships in Saitama, Japan, from March 20-26. They won bronze in the competition last year, finishing behind French duo Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron and American pair Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

Meanwhile, Knierim and Frazier topped their Stranger Things-themed performance in Thursday's pairs short program with a brilliant showing in Saturday's pairs free skate to secure the national title.

Knierim, 31, and Frazier, 30, became the first U.S. pair in their 30s to win a national title in 50-plus years. The victory also marks Knierim's fifth U.S. title and second with Frazier as her partner. She won her first three titles with her husband, Chris Knierim, who retired in 2020.

Knierim and Frazier, who won the title in 2021, would have been three-time winners, but the pair was unable to defend their title in 2022 after Frazier tested positive for COVID-19.

Frazier said before nationals earlier this month that this could be the final season he and Knierim compete together, though they haven't officially made a decision.

"I don't like to just put it out there and say it is the last or not going to be the last because life just has that way of throwing curveballs, and you just never know," he said, per OlympicTalk. "But I would say that this is the first nationals where I'm going to go in really trying to soak up every second as if it is my last because you just don't know."

The final day of the 2023 United States Figure Skating Championships will take place Sunday afternoon with the championship men free skate.