After Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc completed their performance in Friday's pairs short program, the top two finishers at the time both were from the United States.
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc scored a 74.13, placing them second just behind U.S. teammates Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, who scored a 74.23.
Both pairs have secured a spot in Saturday's free skate.
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, perfectly in sync on their side-by-side triple loops, scored a 39.91 technical score and 34.22 component score. That placed them ahead of Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who scored a 70.85.
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Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, who teamed up in 2016, were making their Olympic debut after coming in first at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
"We're officially Olympians," Cain-Gribble was heard saying after exiting the ice.
LeDuc made history by doing so, becoming the first publicly non-binary Winter Olympian.
"We were so joyous," LeDuc said after the performance. "Just from the moment that we took the ice, I looked around and was like, 'Oh, my gosh.' I was that small kid 20 years ago watching this and here I am."
China's Cheng Peng and Yang Jin, who followed Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, jumped into the top spot with a score of 76.10.
Yet to skate are Russian Olympic Committee gold-medal contenders Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, the reigning world champions, and Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskiy, who earned bronze at the 2021 world championships. Also competing will be Chinese duo Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, silver medalists at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
The top 16 pairs advance to Saturday's free skate, which will begin at 6 a.m. ET on USA Network, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
