BOSTON — Madison Chock and Evan Bates have now won the world title in ice dance in every season of this Olympic cycle.
All that's left for the married Americans is to reach their first Olympic ice dance podium in 2026 (to go along with their 2022 team event gold). Preferably on the top step, where they've become very comfortable the last three years.
Chock and Bates completed their world championships three-peat on Saturday at TD Garden. They're the first ice dancers to win three world titles in a row since Russians Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov won four in a row from 1994-97.
They won both Friday's rhythm dance and Saturday's free dance, totaling 222.06 points and distancing silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada by 5.52.
FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Results | Broadcast Schedule
"We've been wanting a moment like that for a long time," Bates said of winning Saturday on home ice. "The last couple of world titles we had didn't feel as good as that one. This will go right to the top of the list forever."
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson took bronze, the first world medal for British figure skaters since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won their last of four consecutive titles in 1984.
Chock, 32, and Bates, 36, have been partners on the ice since 2011 and got married last June.
At the Olympics, they finished eighth (2014), ninth (2018) and fourth (2022).
None of the 2022 Olympic ice dance medalists are competing internationally anymore. Chock and Bates demonstrably filled the void, at one point winning eight consecutive competitions from January 2023 through March 2024.
They were defeated twice this season — by Fear and Gibson at October's Skate America and Gilles and Poirier at their last pre-worlds event, February's Four Continents Championships in Seoul.
Yet Chock and Bates rebounded. They go into the 2025-26 Olympic season — possibly their last in competition — bidding to become the oldest Olympic ice dance champions.
“I would say never say never (about competing beyond 2026), but at this point we’re putting all of our chips on the table for next season,” Bates said before worlds. “We have been so focused on just absolutely maximizing our potential for Boston, for the next 12 months. We’re going to treat it like it’s our last shot.”
Worlds conclude later Saturday with the men's free skate, live from 6-10 p.m. ET on Peacock and 8-10 on NBC and Peacock for the final two groups.
