World champs Chock and Bates dance their way into a big lead at U.S. Figure Skating Championships

By Canadian Press on January 24, 2025.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two-time defending world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates danced their way through three decades of popular American music on Friday night, and right into a big lead after the rhythm dance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Chock and Bates scored 92.16 points, nearly 10 more than second-place Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko. To put that into context, second through fourth places were separated by less than a point, with the pair of Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik scoring the exact same — 82.13 points — as Caroline Green and Michael Parsons.

Chock and Bates were not available after their performance because she was dealing with a food-related stomach bug.

They are going for their fourth straight national title and sixth overall, which would tie the record held by Meryl Davis and Charlie White. And this one would come 11 years after Chock and Bates first stepped atop the podium.

The women’s champion will be decided during their free skate later Friday, when Alysa Liu will try to complete a remarkable comeback from a two-year retirement. The 19-year-old from California stood more than five points ahead of two-time champion Bradie Tennell and defending champion Amber Glenn after her short program Thursday night.

The ice dance finale is Saturday, when world champion Ilia Malinin also will be in action during the men’s short program.

The proscribed style for the rhythm dance this season is “social dances and styles of the 1950s, ‘60s and ’70s,” and while many teams chose to dance to Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra or disco fare, the avant-garde Chock and Bates chose to take their fans on a rollicking journey through all three decades of American popular culture.

There was music from “Hawaii Five-O” and a version of “Let’s Twist Again.” Chock and Bates did the “Watusi with Lucy” and spent time “Stayin’ Alive” with the Bee Gees. And of course, they had the Village People leading the arena in doing the “YMCA.”

The performance only underscored their status as favorites heading into the world championships in March in Boston.

They’re probably the favorites heading into the Winter Olympics next year in Milan, too.

Carreira and Ponomarenko scored 82.86 points for their cheeky, fun nod to 1950s sock hops. The reigning silver medalists made a small mistake on their twizzle but scored big on their choreographed rhythm sequence to land in second place.

“Our job doesn’t change regardless of the scores,” Carreira said. “We want to skate a good program, we want to skate our best.”

It might take exactly that for another silver medal.

Zingas and Kolesnik, who were fourth a couple of years ago, turned heads early with their medley of music by the Bee Gees, and Green and Parsons managed the same score — a rarity in a sport in which there are so many scored elements — but were slotted into fourth place because they lost to Zingas and Kolesnik in the technical score.

“We’re happy to be here and we’ve worked really hard in the time we’ve had since our last competition,” Zingas said, “and I think that showed. We were happy to skate and just really enjoyed our performance.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympicsAP

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press