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Madison Chock and Evan Bates are repeating world ice dance champions, finishing the season undefeated for the first time in their 13th year together.
Chock, 31, and Bates, 35, scored 222.20 points in Friday’s rhythm dance and Saturday’s free dance in Montreal, where they have practiced since 2018.
She beat last year’s bronze medalists, Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, by 2.52 points. This was the smallest margin of victory in ice dancing at the world championships in the last 10 years.
Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri won bronze, a year after winning silver.
The world of figure skating: result | Broadcast schedule
Chock and Bates’ total of five world championship medals is a U.S. ice dance record.
Last year, they won their first world title after winning silver or bronze the previous three times, becoming the oldest couple to win gold.
After the Stars on Ice tour last spring, they decided to continue competing for at least one more season.
It was the best thing ever for them. Chock and Bates won all five tournaments, including their fifth national title.
They enter this week with the highest total score in the world this season, 2.6 points ahead of Gilles and Poirier. So while they were clear favorites to win the world championship, they weren’t overwhelming winners.
This season, she won the world’s highest score in rhythm dance. Gilles and Poirier beat them by 1.05 points in the free dance, but it wasn’t enough to make up the difference from Friday.
Chock and Bates plan to marry in June. They have not announced whether they plan to play next season.
If she continues, she could earn a spot next January to equal the record of six U.S. ice dance titles held by her former training partners, the retired Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
They are currently tied with Davis and White for two world titles.
No other American ice dancer has ever won a world championship, but at least one American couple has medaled in 17 of the past 19 world championships.
The World Championships will conclude later Saturday with the men’s free skate starting at 6 p.m. ET. peacock 8 p.m. on NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.
If Ilya Marinin jumps from third place to win, it will be the first year the United States has won multiple gold medals since 1996 (Michelle Kwan, Todd Eldridge).
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