Madison Chock, Evan Bates shuck weight of past ice dance glories to seek more

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Madison Chock, Evan Bates shuck weight of past ice dance glories to seek more

BOSTON — When the triumphs pile up, when you have been atop the field in your sport for more than two seasons, when you have been a medalist in national and world championships from your early 20s to your 30s, it is easy to become happy with what you have already accomplished in 14 seasons as competitors.

For those who become timeless champions, though, the Sisyphean but still fulfilling quest for perfection always endures.

So it is for U.S. ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who came into the 2025 World Championships with an Olympic gold medal, six national titles and five world medals, the last two of them gold.

“Yes, we’ve accumulated some titles along the way, but it still feels like we’re still striving for excellence and looking for ways to improve ourselves,” Chock said in a recent interview.

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At figure skating worlds, a U.S.-Canada ice dance story adds a chapter

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At figure skating worlds, a U.S.-Canada ice dance story adds a chapter

The two couples have both been in the same ice dance universe for 14 seasons, with each moving at a different trajectory and speed toward the shiny medals that once seemed distant.

One team, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States, got there faster and collected more medals of all colors and more of the most glittering.

Yet as they and rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada home in on the biggest and brightest medal of all, an Olympic gold, the gap between the two couples has narrowed to the point that who stands on the top step of the podium at the 2026 Winter Games is almost impossible to predict.

Even the results of the 2025 World Championships that began Wednesday in Boston likely will not be enough to make one couple the decisive favorite next year in Milan, Italy.

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Madison Chock, Evan Bates win repeat ice dance gold with a nod to U.S. trailblazers

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Madison Chock, Evan Bates win repeat ice dance gold with a nod to U.S. trailblazers

MONTREAL — When Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto finished second at the 2005 World Championships in Moscow, it was the first time in 20 years a U.S. ice dance team had won a world medal.

Who could have guessed that would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between U.S. ice dancers and the awards podium at global figure skating championships?

Madison Chock and Evan Bates added a new line to that story Saturday, becoming the first U.S. dance couple to win consecutive world titles and giving their country medals in 17 of the last 19 worlds, including at nine in a row.

“I absolutely remember vividly when they (Belbin and Agosto) won that silver medal in 2005,” said Bates, 16 at the time. “It seems like that really was the catalyst for what has become a great two decades of U.S. ice dance. ... They really blazed the trail.”

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Madison Chock, Evan Bates lead ice dance at worlds with brilliance years in the making

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Madison Chock, Evan Bates lead ice dance at worlds with brilliance years in the making

MONTREAL – There is a moment late in their rhythm dance when a moving Madison Chock leaps into Evan Bates’ arms, and he immediately spins her up into a rotational lift at his shoulder level.

It happens so smoothly and in less time than it will take you to read this paragraph, so you go back and watch over and over again to see how they can look so effortless and secure in a potentially dicey few seconds.

“Evan is very good with his coordination,” Chock said. “He’s good at catching things, throwing things. I’m in good hands. But for sure, if you’re just going to launch yourself into someone’s arms, it takes a lot of trust.”

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Deanna Stellato-Dudek with a victory, and journey, for the ages (and aged) at figure skating worlds

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Deanna Stellato-Dudek with a victory, and journey, for the ages (and aged) at figure skating worlds

MONTREAL – Deanna Stellato-Dudek is now one for the ages.

And for the aged — at least by the actuarial tables for figure skating careers.

And maybe even for a film script. After all, she has already written two acts, one as a U.S. singles skater from suburban Chicago, the other who returned to the sport after a 16-year absence as a pairs’ skater now representing Canada.

“It’s a dream come true,” Stellato-Dudek said in English after opening by speaking French to the crowd in partner Maxime Deschamps’ native Quebec.

At age 40, Stellato-Dudek became the oldest woman to win a world title in any figure skating discipline when she and Deschamps took gold Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

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