Chock and Bates defend title, win 4th US Ice Dancing Gold

Madison Chock and Evan Bates conceptualized their free dance this season as fire and air – the former cannot survive without the latter. And it’s fitting, because this duo has been igniting American ice dancing for the past decade.

Chock and Bates defended their ice dancing title on Saturday at the US Figure Skating Championships, scoring 137.85 points in the free dance for a highest overall score of 229.75.

The newly engaged couple have won medals at national championships in every season since 2013. That’s 11 consecutive years, matching former training mates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donoghue (2012-22) for the most consecutive years on the podium in US ice dancing.

In a sport typically dominated by younger athletes, Chock, 30, and Bates, 33, have shown remarkable endurance.

“I am honored to be one of the teams with the longest longevity in the sport,” Chock said. We are really proud of this because we are very motivated people. thanks to this, we have achieved great success.”

Over 22 points behind the champions overall, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons won silver medals with a free dance score of 126.06 for the Blues Rhapsody program, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko placed fourth. after the short program, she scored 121.08 points and moved up one position and won bronze. Emilia Zingas and Vadim Kolesnik continued a good debut season as partners, finishing fourth with a score of 119.95.

In a free dance inspired by the relationship between the elements of fire and air that was both lethargic and scorching, Chalk and Bates earned near-perfect scores for the components of their program that take into account skating skills and artistry.

“We are very pleased with how the program has evolved since the start of the season and it has found its direction,” said Chalk. “We let the program speak to us, and we evolved with it. We have not been afraid to adapt and work with our new material, and continue to push ourselves to create something that we consider to be truly special.”

Chalk and Bates, Hubbell and Donoghue, and Caitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker have all held the top three podium places for the past four years. But Hubbell and Donoghue have retired, and Hawayek and Baker have waived national fees to prioritize their physical and mental health.

Ice dancers Maya and Alex Shibutani, along with US Figure Skating Foundation President and Trustee Paul E. George, were inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame during the event.

The Shibutani siblings are two-time national champions and three-time World Championship medalists, as well as the first Asian athletes to win medals in Olympic ice dancing when they took bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

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