U.S. figure skating team Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim may have gotten 15th place in the Olympic pairs event, but they’re first in our hearts and a first for the record books. The husband-and-wife duo didn’t medal despite placing in the top five in their team event, but they did make American skating history by executing a complex move in their free skate program.
The Knierims were the first U.S. pair ever to complete the difficult quadruple twist at the Olympics, and it was beautiful to watch.
NBC confirmed the exciting news, but anyone who watched their performance saw it firsthand for themselves.
Even with the historical moment, the rest of their routine did not go entirely as planned: the Knierims had stumbles and unsynchronized spins that were not timed correctly.
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“Unfortunately, too many mistakes today,” Alexa admitted after the fact, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
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“It was one of our lowest scores. I was sick last night and this morning with a normal stomach bug. I had asked Chris to kind of pick up the slack for me today because I knew I was going to be more fatigued, but then my adrenaline kicked in and I rose to the occasion. I think his fatigue might have set in because he was concerned for me.”
While not everything went smoothly, the Knierims skated with a meaningful cause in mind. Moments before they hit the ice, they learned about the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people Yahoo Sports reports. According to NBC, the couple chose to dedicate their performance to the victims as a result.