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Olympic figure skating: Pairs short program team event results and highlights

BySarabeth Pollock|
PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 09: Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim of the United States compete in the Figure Skating Team Event - Pair Skating Short Program during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 9, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)
PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 09: Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim of the United States compete in the Figure Skating Team Event - Pair Skating Short Program during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 9, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)

The 2018 Winter Olympics are underway and we have the results of the pairs short program team event on the first night of competition.

Team Japan and Team Israel jumped out to an early lead in the pairs short program team event, but Team USA had a stellar performance and held on to first place before being knocked from the top three after strong performances from Canada, Germany, and the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The Russians claimed the top spot in the night’s pairs competition.

Husband and wife duo of Chris Knierim and Alexa Scimeca Knierim qualified for the Olympics after Scimeca Knierim spent a good part of the last two years dealing with health issues. After three surgeries she came back and the team qualified. They’re the only pairs team representing Team USA, which means they will perform four routines within a week’s time.

Skating to “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge, Knierim and Knierim had an almost flawless performance. Scimeca Knierim tripped slightly near the end of the performance but never hit the ice, dodging a major deduction. They earned a 69.75 from the judges, putting them in first place in front of Japan (57.42) and Israel (54.47) after their routine.

Canada took the lead from Team USA when Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford earned a 76.57 in their flawless skate in the second half of the program, but the Russian team took the lead away from everyone in the end.

Here are the results of the pairs short program team event:

  1. Olympic Athletes from Russia – 80.92
  2. Canada – 76.57
  3. Germany – 75.36
  4. United States – 69.75
  5. China – 69.17
  6. France – 68.49
  7. Italy – 67.62
  8. Japan – 57.42
  9. Israel – 54.47
  10. South Korea – 52.10

After the first two team events, Canada is in the lead with 17 points total. Team USA received 7 points from the pairs short program to bring their overall total to 14. Japan is in third place overall with 13 points after Shoma Uno’s flawless skate in the men’s short program team event earlier in the evening.

Next: Winter Olympics 2018 schedule: When is figure skating?

The next pairs event is the pairs free skate on Sunday, Feb. 11.

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