Alexa Knierim

AleXa Paige Knierim, née Scimeca (born June 10, 1991) is an American pair skater.

With her skating partner, Brandon Frazier, she is the 2022 World champion, the 2023 World silver medalist, a 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the figure skating team event, the 2022 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time U.S. National champion (2021, 2023), and a three-time Grand Prix gold medalist.

AleXa Scimeca was born June 10, 1991, in Addison, Illinois.

She has two siblings, a brother, and a sister.

Scimeca began skating in 1998.

She was coached by Trish Cazeau Brown and Sergei Telenkov from 1998 to 2008, by Maria Jeżak-Athey in 2008–2009, and by Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova from 2010 to 2011.

In the 2011–2012 season, Scimeca began pair skating with Ivan Dimitrov, with whom she trained in Connecticut.

She and Chris Knierim became skating partners in April 2012 and began dating about a month later.

In 2012, she moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and began being coached by Dalilah Sappenfield.

Sappenfield suggested that Scimeca skate with Chris Knierim.

They teamed up in April 2012.

They began training with Sappenfield, Larry Ibarra, and various other coaches at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In October, Scimeca/Knierim won the gold medal in their first-ever international event, the 2012 Coupe Internationale de Nice.

After several withdrawals by other teams, they received a Grand Prix assignment, the 2012 NHK Trophy in November, where they placed fourth.

The pair won the silver medal at the 2013 U.S. Championships in January.

They were assigned to the 2013 Four Continents Championships but withdrew just before the event when Scimeca injured her right foot in practice.

Scimeca/Knierim were named to the U.S. team for the 2013 World Championships after Caydee Denney / John Coughlin withdrew.

They placed ninth in their World Championships debut in March.

Scimeca/Knierim experienced a setback that hampered their season when Knierim broke his left fibula in July.

He underwent surgery that placed a metal plate and nine screws in his ankle.

While Knierim was able to heal relatively quickly, the team believed they rushed back to competition a bit too soon.

They became engaged on April 8, 2014, and married on June 26, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In January, they won the pewter medal at the 2014 U.S. Championships and were named second alternates to the 2014 Winter Olympic team.

They then won the bronze medal at the 2014 Four Continents Championships.

Their second-place short program score of 66.04 set a new record for the highest score ever achieved by a U.S. pair team.

Knierim had additional surgery in March to remove the metal hardware in his leg, which had been causing discomfort.

Scimeca/Knierim won the gold medal in their first ISU Challenger series event, the 2014 U.S. International Classic, and won the bronze medal at 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy.

They were assigned two Grand Prix events, placing fourth at both 2014 Skate America and 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard.

At the 2015 U.S. Championships, Scimeca/Knierim captured their first national title, setting new U.S. record scores in both the short program and the free skate.

They also became the first American pair team in history to perform a quadruple twist in competition.

At the 2015 Four Continents Championships, Scimeca/Knierim placed fifth and earned new ISU personal best scores of 124.44 in the free skate and 187.98 total, setting new records for the highest scores ever achieved by a U.S. pair team in an international event.

At the 2015 World Championships, the pair placed 7th, the highest finish by a U.S. pair since 2011.

They then competed at the 2015 World Team Trophy, finishing 4th in the short program and 3rd in the free skate, which ultimately was a key factor in Team USA winning the gold medal.

Scimeca/Knierim earned new personal best scores of 127.87 in the free skate and 192.09 total, setting new records once again for the highest scores ever recorded by a U.S. pair team in international competition.

Scimeca/Knierim won SKATING magazine's 2015 Readers' Choice Skaters of the Year Award, also known as the Michelle Kwan Trophy.

Scimeca/Knierim began their season at 2015 Nebelhorn Trophy, where they won the silver medal behind reigning Olympic champions Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov.

With her husband and former skating partner, Chris Knierim, she is a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the figure skating team event, a two-time Four Continents medalist (2016 silver, 2014 bronze), a three-time Grand Prix medalist (1 silver, 2 bronze), and a three-time U.S. National champion (2015, 2018, 2020).

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Knierims became the first American pair, and the second pair ever in history, to perform a quad twist at the Olympic Games.

Their skating partnership ended in February 2020.

The couple lives in Irvine, California, where AleXa-scimeca-knierim">AleXa Scimeca Knierim trains with her current skating partner, Brandon Frazier, while Chris Knierim is a figure skating coach.