Omaha, NE – Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir won their first pairs title in placing first at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday.
Despite an error in their routine during Saturday's free skate competition, Castelli and Shnapir were still able to capture their first pairs title thanks to an impressive performance in Thursday's short program.
Shnapir's mistake caused them a deduction, which gave them a third place finish in the free skate. Their first place score of 62.27 in the short program, however, gave them a total score of 180.61, which was a near eight points better than then duo of Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim (172.75), who placed second.
Scimeca and Knierim had the top score in the free skate with 119.96 points, but placed third in Thursday's short program.
Defending champions Caydee Denney and John Coughlin were unable to compete, as Coughlin is recovering from hip surgery.
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