MILAN — After injuries and stumbles, Madison Chock and Evan Bates earned their first Olympic medal Friday, but it wasn’t expected to be this color.
The three-time world champions settled for silver in their fourth Olympics together, falling 1.43 points behind France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. Cizeron has won back-to-back Olympic titles with different partners after climbing the podium in Beijing with Gabriella Papadakis.
While Chock and Bates, who have skated together for 15 years and got married in 2024, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron shot to the top of the sport after just 11 months together. When the winning score was announced Cizeron hugged his coach and covered his face while crying. Chock and Bates, sitting next to the kiss-and-cry in white arm chairs reserved for the current leaders, clapped politely.
They wanted this gold medal as a perfect ending to their accomplished career.
The three-time world champions and seven-time U.S. champions were in their fourth Olympics together. Bates was competing on this stage for the fifth time. On a team with only one other athlete with previous Olympic experience — 20-year-old Alysa Liu skated in Beijing as a teenager — Chock and Bates became the unofficial parents to their younger teammates, including Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, who finished fifth, and 11th-place finishers Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Chock and Bates were the steadiest contributors of this year’s team gold medal run, winning both dance programs to win the second consecutive team Olympic championship for the United States, but struggled in previous individual Olympic events. In 2018, Chock suffered an ankle injury during the warm-up before the short dance. In 2022, she slipped had an uncharacteristic fall.
But they haven’t missed a podium since that stumble. They were undefeated this season, placing first for both the rhythm and free dance portions of every competition. Until the individual Olympic short dance.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron, who paired together last year only after Fournier Beaudry’s longtime skating partner was suspended for sexual assault allegations, inched ahead by 0.46 points after Monday’s rhythm dance. It was a reversal from the team event, where Chock and Bates swept both the rhythm and free dance portions and led the qualifying round 91.06-89.98 over the French pair.
After the rhythm dance score for Chock and Bates flashed across the screen, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Their coach Patrice Lauzon’s mouth dropped open. He furrowed his brow and cocked his head in confusion. While Chock and Bates smiled and waved to the crowd, Lauzon, who is also on the coaching team for Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron, looked on with suspicion.
Chock and Bates did their best to leave no doubt Wednesday. Their enthralling matador and bull program set to “Paint it Black” eclipsed the season’s best they earned two days prior during the team event, but it wasn’t enough to earn elusive individual Olympic gold.
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