Cain-Gribble and LeDuc: The journeys of Team USA's unapologetic pair skating duo

No matter what happens in the pair skating competition at Beijing 2022, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc will be making history and they will be doing it their way.

LeDuc will be the first out non-binary athlete to compete at a Winter Games. A non-binary person is someone who does not feel as though they fit into the category of being male or female. LeDuc's pronouns are they/them/theirs.

Cain-Gribble, who at 5'6'' is significantly taller than the average woman in pair skating, has had to overcome body shaming throughout her career.

“I had a lot of people tell me I shouldn’t be in this sport because of the way I’m shaped, but this is my body, this is the way I am,” Cain-Gribble told Team USA. “It was one of the things that almost forced me into retirement. … There is a body stereotype still, and we are trying to definitely fight that.”

This will be the pair's first Olympics but they can take plenty of confidence having won their second U.S. pairs figure skating title at the 2022 U.S. championships at the beginning of the year. Their short program set a new scoring record in the US (79.39 points).

Their involvement at Beijing 2022 will be important in pushing the boundaries of the sport in a positive direction.

"I've always felt that I didn't quite align with the expectations that were put on me - masculinity always felt forced, like something I had to do," LeDuc said last month after qualifying for the Games. "It never felt authentic to me. When I was finally given the tools and shown the examples that I can exist outside of that, it made sense - I felt whole. I thrive expressing myself in these ways."

"My hope is that when people see my story, it isn’t focused on me and saying, ‘Oh, Timothy is the first out