Three Pairs

At the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships the pairs final just ended.

From press row on the far end of Greensboro Coliseum, it was great fun to witness skating duos Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim, Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, as well as Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea placing first, second and third, respectively.

I have a lot to learn about the skating lingo, but sitting near the Associated Press team and other veteran figure skating reporters, it's getting easier to tell when something special just happened or was a near miss on the ice.

For instance, when Denney/Frazier skated to a mix of music from "The Lion King" I thought one of their lifts achieved a lot of air (as shown below) but I'm told it was so-so (any air time on a thin blade cutting ice seems miraculous to this guy).

And the buzz in the press room is that during their skate to Gershwin's "An American In Paris" the gold medalists Scimeca/Knierim achieved the first U.S. quad throw twist (???) which must be difficult (I'm old enough to recall when many triples were the new big thing in skating).

At the post-final press conference, Knierim said he was "super shocked at the scores" while his partner said the "program was a nail-biter for me" (me, too, as my camera struggled to keep up with the quad).

In spite of their bronze finish, my personal favorite performance was Kayne/O'Shea as they skated to selections from the "Spartacus" soundtrack; graceful and emotional. And they seemed to be the most relaxed.

The certified scores: Scimeca/Knierim with 210.49; Denney/Frazier with 199.92; and Kayne/O'Shea with 185.31.

Looking forward to all the single ladies later this evening.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver