Winning a gold medal is hard. Winning three in a row is harder.
It seemed that nobody told USA’s ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates who glided to their third world title at the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday (29 March) with the ease befitting their classic jazz skate.
The two-time Olympic figure skaters topped the free skate with 131.88 points on the board and scored a season’s best total of 222.06.
“This one definitely feels extra special. To do it in front of a home crowd and to have two of our best skates of the season, I don’t think we could have done anything better than that,” Chock said. “To have the programs come to fruition like you imagine them at the beginning of the season and to execute them like that at the world championships is a dream come true and one that we’ve worked really hard for.”
None of the pressure points seemed to daunt the husband-and-wife duo – not their quest to become the first USA team to win three ice dance world titles, nor the fact that they were competing on home ice in front of packed stands in Boston’s TD Garden.
Chock and Bates took the lead with a season’s best in rhythm dance on Friday and delivered a solid free skate to seal the deal, winning the title ahead of Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (216.54) and Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (207.11).
Their free jazz program was packed with elements of the highest value, notably their level three one-foot turns, as well…
