[WATCH] Cedar Rapids Skater Makes Olympic Debut
A Cedar Rapids native made their Olympic debut this week.
Timothy LeDuc, an Iowa native and American figure skating champion made history when they qualified for the Olympics. LeDuc and their figure skating partner Ashley Cain-Gribble, have a successful skating record so far.
Three years ago, you might have heard of competitive figure skater Timothy LeDuc. The athlete competed at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and made history as the first openly gay athlete to win a U.S. pairs title. LeDuc ended up taking home the gold with their skating partner, Ashley Cain-Gribble.
During this competition, the duo vied for a spot on the U.S. Olympic skating team. On Thursday, January 6th the team broke a national record along with making history.
As we previously reported, LeDuc's Iowa roots run deep. The Olympian began skating at ImOn Ice Arena back when they were just 12 years old. The Cedar Rapids native uses they/them pronouns and is the very first non-binary Olympic athlete.
Before setting foot onto the ice, LeDuc already was the talk of the Olympics.
The team ended up coming in seventh place after the pairs short program on Friday, February 18th. LeDuc and Cain-Gibble received a score of 74.13. This score secures the team a spot at the pairs free skate this Saturday.
They will be joined by another American pairs team named Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who ended up scoring a 74.23, according to an NBC report.
You can watch the full performance of their short program video here.
For more information on this and other events, you can check out the 2022 Olympics website.