Ashley Cain-Gribble & Timothy LeDuc

[skylark]

And this from a Fanzone article, in case you didn't see it posted in the US Pairs thread. I want to say, they were in that transcendent, timeless moment when you're 'in flow' in a creative endeavour, including those moments of being most purely in love. So wonderful to see and be such a part of. They are incredible.

"It was such a joyous moment for us out there today," LeDuc said.

"It was honestly a little bit of an out-of-body experience as well," Cain-Gribble said. "Because we are so trained, we just allowed that to take over. So when the music ended, it was when we finally felt everything."

U.S. Pairs Take Sixth and Seventh After Short Program - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

So much time has passed since Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier first performed their short program in Olympic competition that their music to "House of the Rising

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

 

[ManyCairns]

Have to think it was Ash's ankle troubling her in the FS - esp. in the combo fall, it just looked like it couldn't hold her by the third jump. Overall a strong showing. I'm proud of but devastated for them, for Ash to get injured at the last minute like that, because I really felt they were getting their jump consistency back. Still, in re-watching the FS, it was still an impactful performance, and overall a great Olympics for them. Hope they go to Montpellier for 2 strong showings!

 

[dorispulaski]

Absolutely agree. Johnny mentioned torn ligaments for Ashley...I hope he was not right.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Excerpt from WSJ, Feb 18th.
In the exceptionally rigid discipline of pairs skating, LeDuc stands out at the Olympics as openly non-binary. There were many times when it seemed they would never make it to Beijing. And it probably wouldn’t have happened if LeDuc hadn’t spent two years skating on cruise ships.

Performing on cruise ships is a calling for a very small subset of professional skaters willing to live in a cabin, work other jobs while aboard and jump on an incredibly small patch of ice that may tilt by up to three degrees during a show.

“That’s the fun part!” said LeDuc. “If you take off from a jump at a certain point, but the ship is moving, the ice will be moving down or up, depending on which way it’s rocking and which way you’re jumping. So sometimes the ice will show up a lot sooner than you expect or a lot later than you’d expect.”

Fun was the part of the reset LeDuc, now 31, was seeking after finishing seventh in the 2014 U.S. championships with their previous partner DeeDee Leng. It was far from an Olympic berth, and LeDuc contemplated being done with the sport altogether.

It turned out that skating on Royal Caribbean Cruises is what kept LeDuc on the ice long enough to make another run at skating at the Olympics.

Triple jumps, a long-running weakness for American pairs skaters, were in demand. With access to the rink on board for practices, LeDuc skated more than required. LeDuc was also exposed to the color of show business, “a lot of variety, a lot of big costumes, a lot of light,” they recalled. There were other performers on board too, including acrobats who taught LeDuc some cool lifts. It was skating, but nothing like skating in competition.

“It’s a way where you feel like you can enjoy your sport even more, without judges,” said Christopher Caluza, a Filipino-American skater who skated on ships a few years after LeDuc, and who also pursued a return to competition once he was back on dry land. “During that time, for me, I found stability in myself, physically and financially.”

The personal benefits for an athlete also come with technical rewards, Caluza said.

“It makes your skating better, to be honest,” he said. “It’s much harder to skate on ship because it’s smaller. The rink is like a fifth of the size.”

Skating on a cruise ship leaves no room to dither in the set-up of a jump. Being able to time a jump and approach it from different angles are crucial skills for pairs skaters who try to land triple jumps side-by-side in unison. Being able to maneuver around up to nine other skaters moving quickly in a very small space at the same time is another obvious transferable skill.

But LeDuc’s sister sees something else from the cruise ship that’s followed her sibling back to competition. It’s flair—selling a performance by maximizing every single movement and emoting to the fullest.

“You would just be exaggerating the moment to the high heavens, and we made a game out of it,” said Leah Trussov, now 29, who skated on the same ship as LeDuc for one season. “Sometimes I see that in Timothy’s skating where they’re just really going for it, and it reminds me of the cruise ship.”

Ship skating had plenty of tougher moments, too. LeDuc’s other jobs on board included sharpening the cast’s skates and the rentals used by passengers for the mass sessions on the rink in between shows, she said.

The skaters helped spotlight the other shows and aid the other performers in dressing backstage and handling quick costume changes. They would help lead the muster station as passengers boarded at the start of the voyage. When there was a problem with the ice, the skaters took shifts every two hours spraying it with a hose.

The Internet was spotty. The cell service was unreliable. The lines between work and home were blurred long before the pandemic flattened them for everyone else.

“You’re basically doing every part of your life with the cast,” Trussov said.

Mitch Moyer, U.S. Figure Skating’s high-performance director, saw nothing but assets in this experience when LeDuc got in touch in 2016 and expressed interest in coming back to competition. LeDuc seemed like the solution to a problem on Moyer’s hands at that moment: He thought Cain-Gribble might skate for Australia, where her father is from.

Matchmaking pairs teams is a complicated undertaking at the best of times, sifting through a very small pool of daredevils capable of throwing another person or being thrown in order to find two athletes who are compatible in their skating, but also in their training. Promising teams who just can’t get along have dashed American hopes repeatedly.

Moyer said he appreciated the performance aspects of show skating, the flexibility required to work on the tiny rink and the benefits of performing over and over again—far more than the competition opportunities that might come for a pairs team in a skating season.

But what Moyer emphasized most about LeDuc’s time on a cruise ship was something that might sound peculiar: It happened to be an unusually helpful form of training for the Olympics.

“The show must go on,” he said. “If the ice is tilting one way or the other, you’ve got to make it work. You take this Olympic Games, that’s what it’s all about: being able to adjust.”

 

[ManyCairns]

Wishing Ashley and Timothy two more clean and stunning skates at Worlds! I loved the GS twitter quotes that they are just "laser focused" as I believe Timothy said. Great that they are not getting caught up in who is/isn't there, or any other brouhaha. It's still Worlds, still a big stage, still a huge task coping with post-Olympic letdown, etc. Focused is the way to be!

 

[peepsquick]

I'm rooting for Ashley and Timothy this World Cup: I really love their dedication, artistry and athleticism! Sending good thoughts!

 

[moonvine]

Most definitely time for get well cards. Anyone know their rink address?

 

[dorispulaski]

I don't.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

Most definitely time for get well cards. Anyone know their rink address?

I do not, but I'll keep an eye out for any information as well as updates on Ashley's health. I'm just devastated for her and Tim, what an awful blow for them both.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Most definitely time for get well cards. Anyone know their rink address?

Children's Health StarCenter-Euless
1400 S Pipeline Rd W
Euless, TX 76040, United States

 

[peepsquick]

I just watched the pairs' FD and I am crushed for Ashley and Tim! I really hope that Ashley will recover quickly. It looked like she was stunned ... concussion?
I had a hard time enjoying the last competitors ... happy for them but it was a bit jarring all this rejoicing right after the accident.
Do you know if Ashley and Tim have another quadrennial in them?

 

[Penny Lane]

That was beyond devastating to watch. I was really rooting for them to medal. Worried about Ashley and hope she is ok.

 

[moonvine]

I just watched the pairs' FD and I am crushed for Ashley and Tim! I really hope that Ashley will recover quickly. It looked like she was stunned ... concussion?
I had a hard time enjoying the last competitors ... happy for them but it was a bit jarring all this rejoicing right after the accident.
Do you know if Ashley and Tim have another quadrennial in them?

We don’t even know what is wrong or how serious it is.

 

[dorispulaski]

Sometimes it takes a long time to know. Morgan Matthews and Joshua Farris both had to retire due to head injury that never allowed them to return to competition. Tatiana Totmianina OTH became an Olympic champion the same year she had her horrible accident.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

Ashley was released from the hospital overnight and is now resting in her hotel room.

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1507298356149772306

 

[elbkup]

Take things easy both of you.. recuperate fully and well AshleyI don’t know what else to say really.. still in shock. Your programs this season are stellar.. you are an amazing stunning team..comfort &

 

[cathlen]

https://www.facebook.com/ashley.cain.961/posts/5261163097229985 Sending Ashley all support, she really needs it

 

[apgold]

Aww, poor thing. I cried along with her watching this on IG. I think she's extra emotional due to the concussion. She has nothing to be ashamed of. I hope she goes home to Texas and gets all the rest/recovery time she needs.

 

[dorispulaski]

That was tough to watch. Poor Ashley

 

[moonvine]

https://www.facebook.com/ashley.cain.961/posts/5261163097229985 Sending Ashley all support, she really needs it

Oh no! Why would she hate herself or feel shame? No Ash!