ST. LOUIS — Madison Chock and Evan Bates won their record seventh U.S. ice dance championship Saturday to solidify their place in next month’s Milan Cortina Games.
The pair ran away with the title at Enterprise Center, finishing almost 15 points ahead of silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik. Chock and Bates will head to their fourth Olympics after breaking a tie with Meryl Davis and Charlie White for the most national ice dance titles.
Now ahead of the American ice dance trailblazers in one category, Chock and Bates are still trying to catch Davis and White in another. They’re three-time world champions and three-time Grand Prix Final champions but have yet to win an individual Olympic medal.
In 2014, Davis and White became the first U.S. pair to win Olympic gold in ice dance, an exclamation point on their dominant era that included six consecutive national championships from 2009-2014.
Chock and Bates helped the United States to the team gold in 2022, but finished fourth in their individual event. Chock, a Redondo Beach native, slipped on the pair’s midline step sequence during the rhythm dance. Instead, fellow Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue finished third to continue the streak of five consecutive Olympic Games with a U.S. ice dance medal.
Chock and Bates, who are the first ice dance team to win three consecutive world championships since 1996, are favorites to claim gold in Milan, where they will be joined by two other U.S. ice dance pairs.
U.S. Figure Skating will announce the Olympic roster Sunday. In position to make her first trip to the Games, Zingas covered her mouth with her hand in shock in the kiss-and-cry after she and Kolesnik scored a season best in the free skate. Kolesnik wrapped her into a tight hug before they exited the stage with tears in their eyes.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomerenko, who were the second-best U.S. team at the 2025 world championships, took the bronze.
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