The US should have had the silver medal all wrapped up by now but with the weaker US Ice Dance team finishing 3rd in both portions and K/F getting beat by a Japanese Pairs team of all things they now will have to fight for it.
It may be shocking, but that Japanese pairs team was top 10 at Worlds and is no slouch. Pairs scores in the SP tend to get bunched together, especially if they make mistakes, and there were three pairs that ended up within a fraction of a point of each other. K/F got a little unlucky there, but I was just glad to see them look more relaxed and do the jumps well like they normally do and not be so nervous about making a mistake. That throw looked off as soon as he threw her, and that will happen when you're a new pair still trying to feel your way through everything. He throws her with tremendous distance, almost too far sometimes. I've never seen Alexa fall on a SP throw before. But it didn't impact the team standings much.
I'd say Jason placing 8th being Grassl in the FS is the main reason why the US doesn't have the silver medal locked up. That was a real opportunity to surpass Shoma who was only 6th and pretty much lock up the silver, but instead he placed even lower. I don't know the last time I've seen Jason fall on a 3Lz.
Also, Hawayek/Baker's lower results wouldn't have been a big deal had the Japanese dance team finished last, but they weren't last in either segment thanks to Canada's skaters all being in quarantine. So the US didn't get as much separation from Japan there as they normally would even without having Hubbell/Donohue or Chock/Bates.
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