Chock and Bates mesmerize with flamenco free dance to win record-tying fifth Skate America
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Madison Chock and Evan Bates won a record-tying fifth Skate America on Sunday with a theatrical, flamenco-styled free dance, which earned them the best score in the world this season and kept the Americans on track for the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The three-time reigning ice dance world champions, who will be favored to win gold at the Winter Games in February, had a big lead after their short program Saturday. They pulled away with a free dance choreographed to a version of the Rolling Stones hit “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi western series “Westworld,” finishing with a score of 212.58 points.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada were second with 197.16 points. Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud of France were third with 192.61 points, while the U.S. team of Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko finished in fifth.
“Every opportunity we have to comptete lends us a new insight and new things to take away,” Chock said, “and this is no different. We are certainly going to take away the good things and good feelings from this performance.”
The women’s medals will be decided later Sunday on the final day of the penultimate Grand Prix event of the season.
Chock and Bates were sharper than they were when winning the Cup of China last month in a program that seemed to mesmerize the home-nation crowd in Lake Placid, New York. Chock and Bates are known for creative storytelling, and the flamenco program they have designed for the Olympics is no different, with Chock playing the role of the matador and Bates the bull.
Good luck to anyone getting in their way.
While scores generally improve as the season progresses, Chock and Bates’ score on Sunday surpassed the previous best mark this season, a 211.01 from the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron at the Grand Prix de France.
“We can make a lot of improvements on both programs, especially this free dance,” said Bates, who along with Chock helped the U.S. win team gold at the Beijing Olympics but has never stood on an Olympic podium in the actual ice dance competition.
“We feel like it has the potential to be a very powerful free dance,” he said.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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