Husband-wife pair Chris, Alexa Knierim take national title
SAN JOSE » U.S. champions again after all the terrifying health challenges of recent years, the husbandwife Knierims celebrated with those kid-sized, single servings of chocolate milk. Tiny pop-in straw and everything.
Alexa Scimeca-Knierim could exhale at last.
Just earlier, she leaned forward nervously awaiting the score, hands clasped. She knew full well the previous pair had performed beautifully. Her own program with husband Chris featured a few minor mistakes.
It also had a beautiful quadruple twist high above the ice with a slight flaw, yet they also were the only ones to even attempt the high-difficulty element in Saturday’s free skate.
In a calming and reassuring gesture, her husband reached his right arm around her and rested his chin on Alexa’s left shoulder. Then came just what they had so strived for while fighting back from serious health challenges: a national championship.
“The feeling after when you know you’ve nailed your program and you just feel like so alive inside, and you just want to just like celebrate, because I knew all the mistakes we left on the table it was disappointing,” Alexa said. “So when we skated over to get our marks, I was unsure how the rest of our elements would be scored, and would it hold up to keep us at the top when we lost so many points on the jumps. So I was concerned whether we would win or not in that moment.
“I came here really wanting to make the Olympic team obviously, but to say I didn’t care if we were the champions or not would be a lie. It was very important to me to win again. And in that moment I was a little doubtful.”
The couple captured a second title three years after their first at the U.S. Figure Skating championships, likely securing their Olympic berth for the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
“I’m in disbelief,” the 26-year-old Alexa said, fighting back the tears. “I was not feeling confident we would come out on top.”