American pair skater
Brandon Michael Frazier (born November 19, 1992) is an American pair skater. With his skating partner, Alexa Knierim, he 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.
With his former partner, Haven Denney, he is a four-time Grand Prix medalist (2 silver, 2 bronze), the 2013 World Junior champion, and the 2017 U.S. National champion.
Personal life.
Brandon Frazier was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He competed as a roller skater from 1998 until 2004.
Career.
Early career.
Brandon Frazier and Haven Denney first teamed up in 2002 as roller skaters before switching to the ice. As figure skaters, they competed together for three seasons from 2005 to 2008, coached by Jim Peterson and Lyndon Johnston. After two seasons on the juvenile level, the pair moved up a level and won the 2008 U.S. intermediate bronze medal. The skaters decided to part ways with their families living in different states.
Skating with Mandy Garza, Frazier was 8th at a 2010–11 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Austria and 5th on the junior level at the 2011 U.S. Championships. Garza and Frazier announced the end of their partnership in February 2011.
2011–2012 season: Junior Grand Prix debut.
Denney/Frazier teamed up for the second time in the spring of 2011. They competed on the Junior Grand Prix series, placing 8th in Latvia and 7th in Austria. They won the junior title at the 2012 U.S. Championships and were assigned to the 2012 World Junior Championships, where they placed 4th. The pair was coached by Dalilah Sappenfield in Colorado Springs, Colorado until the fall of 2012 when they moved to Coral Springs, Florida to train with John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana at Coral Gables.
2012–2013 season: World Junior title.
Denney/Frazier finished 4th at the Junior Grand Prix event held in Lake Placid, New York. They placed fifth at the 2013 U.S. Championships in January. In March, they won the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships, the first American pair to win the title since 2007.
2013–2014 season: Grand Prix debut.
Denney/Frazier placed fifth at both their Grand Prix events, 2013 Skate Canada International and 2013 NHK Trophy. In January, they placed fifth at the 2014 U.S. Championships. A short time after, they placed fourth at the 2014 Four Continents Championships.
2014–2015 season: First senior medals.
Denney/Frazier won medals at two Challenger Series events – gold at the 2014 CS Lombardia Trophy and silver at the 2014 CS Skate Canada Autumn Classic. In the Grand Prix series, they won their first Grand Prix medal, silver, at 2014 Skate America and then finished fourth at the 2014 Rostelecom Cup. In January, Denney/Frazier won the silver medal at the 2015 U.S. Championships. After Nationals, they began training full-time under Ingo Steuer. They finished 7th at the 2015 Four Continents Championships and 12th at the 2015 World Championships.
In April 2015, Denney/Frazier changed their training location from Coral Springs, Florida to West Palm Beach, Florida. Soon after, on April 22, Denney sustained a knee injury while practicing a throw double flip off the ice. She said, "When I landed, my foot stayed, and my body kept rotating," and she then heard "a couple of loud pops". Having torn the anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament, and bilateral and lateral meniscus in her right knee, she underwent surgery on April 28 at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado.
2015–2016 season.
Denney put no weight on her right leg for six weeks and then began physical therapy before returning to the ice in October 2015. During this time, Frazier worked on his skating skills under Marina Zueva and her team in Canton, Michigan. In October, the pair started training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Initially limited to basic stroking and crossovers, Denney began cautiously practicing jumps in late November.
Denney/Frazier did not compete in the 2015–16 season. By April 2016, they were training with Rockne Brubaker and Stefania Berton at the Fox Valley Ice Center in Geneva, Illinois.
2016–2017 season: First national title.
Denney/Frazier returned to competition, beginning at the 2016 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where they placed fourth. They were assigned to two Grand Prix events, 2016 Skate America and 2016 Skate Canada International. They won the silver medal at Skate America and then placed fourth at Skate Canada. They competed at a second Challenger event, the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they placed fourth.
At the 2017 U.S. Championships, Denney/Frazier won their first national title. Denney commented, "I'm just so proud of where we are right now. We've worked so hard through our ups and downs and everything. I'm just very appreciative and blessed to be here." They were assigned to the 2017 Four Continents Championships, where they finished eighth, and the 2017 World Championships, where they placed twentieth in the short program and did not qualify for the free skate.
2017–2018 season.
Denney/Frazier began the season at the 2017 U.S. Classic, where they placed fifth. They placed seventh at both of their Grand Prix events, 2017 Skate America and 2017 Skate Canada International.
At the 2018 U.S. Championships, Denney/Frazier placed fifth. They were not selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics or any ISU Championship events. In spring 2018, the pair decided to rejoin the coaching team of John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, who were based in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
2018–2019 season.
Denney developed a stress fracture in her ankle early in the summer. Denney/Frazier won the bronze medal at their Challenger event to start the season, the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International. They placed sixth at 2018 Skate Canada International but had to withdraw from their second Grand Prix event, the 2018 Internationaux de France because Denney's stress fracture had become too painful for her to skate.
At the 2019 U.S. Championships, Denney/Frazier won the silver medal, placing third in the short program and second in the free skate, making some errors on their jumps in the latter. Frazier remarked, "There were some things we left out on the table, and that's what we are going to shoot for, to get better." At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, their final event of the season, they finished in fifth place. Side-by-side jump errors continued to plague them, which Denney said would be a focus for improvement in the off-season.
2019–2020 season: End of partnership.
For the new season, Denney/Frazier revived their acclaimed "The Lion King" free skate from the 2014–2015 season. After placing sixth at the 2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, they won the bronze medal at 2019 Skate America, defeating reigning US national champions Cain-Gribble/LeDuc. At their second Grand Prix event, the 2019 Internationaux de France, they won the bronze medal. They placed third in the short program, with Denney underrotating their triple Salchow jump. She landed a clean triple Salchow in the free skate, though they botched their intended three-jump combination, and they placed second in that segment to finish third overall. They again placed ahead of Cain-Gribble/LeDuc.
Denney/Frazier struggled at the 2020 U.S. Championships, beginning in the short program where Denney fell on their throw and then popped their planned triple jump, resulting in them finishing sixth in that segment. After further side-by-side jump errors and another throw fall in the free skate, they placed fifth overall.
On March 25, Denney/Frazier announced that they had ended their partnership.
2020–2021 season: New partnership, first Grand Prix title, and second national title.
On April 1, Frazier announced that he was teaming up with Alexa Knierim, whose husband and former partner Chris Knierim had opted to retire. The new pair started skating together in May 2020 due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They began training in Irvine, California, at Great Park Ice, with coaches Todd Sand, Jenni Meno, Rafael Arutunian, Chris Knierim, and Christine Binder. They also took lessons remotely from coach Nina Mozer.
Knierim/Frazier won the gold medal in their Grand Prix debut at 2020 Skate America, which also marked their competitive debut as a pair. This event was attended by skaters training in the United States due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair skated strongly and solidly in both programs, placing 1st in the short program with a score of 74.19 and 1st the free skate with a score of 140.58, for a total of 214.77 to earn their first Grand Prix title.
At the 2021 U.S. Championships in January, Knierim/Frazier won their first national title together with a score of 228.10, the highest score ever achieved in U.S. competition. They placed 1st in the short program with a score of 77.46 and 1st in the free skate with a score of 150.64, setting new U.S. Championship records in both segments. They won the gold medal by a dominant 23-point margin with two strong and well-executed programs. Frazier is the first male U.S. pair skater to win national titles with two different partners since 2012.
At the 2021 World Championships in March, Knierim/Frazier placed 7th in their Worlds debut. They skated well enough to finish 7th in both segments of the competition, despite Frazier doubling his planned triple jump in the short program and the pair counting multiple errors in the free skate. This was the best result by a U.S. pair since 2015 when Knierim achieved the same placement with her former partner.
In April, Knierim/Frazier competed at the 2021 World Team Trophy and helped Team USA win the silver medal. They placed second among the pairs after finishing fourth in the short program and second in the free skate. Their free skate score was the highest score a U.S. pair has ever received from an international judging panel under the current judging system.
2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics and World Champions.
Knierim/Frazier skated strongly at the Cranberry Cup International, where they won the silver medal behind Russian pair Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov. Their total score of 205.87 was a new international personal best. In September, they won the gold medal at the John Nicks Pairs Challenge, an ISU international competition in New York City. They placed 1st in both segments of the competition with two strong programs and earned all new personal best scores. Their total score of 212.55 was the highest score a U.S. pair has ever achieved under an international judging panel.
In their first Grand Prix event of the season, 2021 Skate America, Knierim/Frazier placed fourth and narrowly missed the podium, just 2.56 points behind reigning World bronze medalists Boikova/Kozlovskii. They were fifth in the short program after Frazier fell out of his triple jump. They placed second in the free skate with a strong performance, earning a new personal best score and surpassing their own record for the highest score a U.S. pair has ever earned under the current international judging system. At their second Grand Prix event, the 2021 Internationaux de France, the pair won the bronze medal. They were narrowly fourth in the short program, 1.69 points behind Canadians James/Radford, and then delivered a strong free skate to overtake the Canadians and place third in that segment just 0.59 points behind the second place Russian pair. They then competed at a Challenger event, 2021 Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they placed second in the short program, just 0.51 out of first place. After an uncharacteristically shaky free skate, they finished fifth overall.
Knierim/Frazier entered the 2022 U.S. Championships as the favorites to win and repeat as national champions. They had been the U.S. pair with the best results, the highest scores, and the most consistent scoring ability across an extended period leading into Nationals. After arriving at the competition, Frazier began to feel unwell, and he tested positive for COVID-19 on January 5, the day before the short program. The pair was forced to withdraw from the competition, and Frazier shared an emotional video message in which he expressed his devastation over not being able to compete. As the leading U.S. pair, Knierim/Frazier successfully petitioned and earned an Olympic spot. On January 9, they were named to the 2022 U.S. Olympic team and the 2022 World team, and Frazier stated he felt "100 percent back to normal." Knierim added, "I am super honored and grateful to be named to the team with Brandon. I believe the best is yet to come. We were so ready and prepared to compete here