MILAN — Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the four-time Olympians, seven-time U.S. champions and three-time reigning world champions, found themselves in an usual position Monday night after the rhythm dance portion of the ice dance competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Not first.
After sweeping to victories in both portions of the team competition to help lead the Americans to the gold medal, Chock and Bates finished in second place, albeit by less than half a point, to the new French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
There is much more to come Wednesday in the free dance, but it was natural to wonder if the busy schedule they’ve been keeping is taking a bit of a toll on them.
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While the U.S. relied on them for both dance team event programs Friday and Saturday, the entire French team missed the cut, meaning Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron had the weekend off from competing. And even though Chock and Bates didn’t have to skate Sunday, they did come to the arena to cheer on their U.S. teammates and then receive their gold medals, putting in another long day at the office.
Chock said they finally got to sleep at 2 a.m., and slept in, getting “a nice, solid 10 hours.” But there is no doubt they and Ilia Malinin have been the hardest working gold-medal favorites in the figure skating venue.
“Of course doing competitions and putting out our best performances, it’s an energy exertion,” Chock said. “We prepared for it, we’re ready, we’ve trained and we knew what to expect getting into this.”
Said Bates: “We felt really strong. We felt like it was even better than the team event. It’s the feeling of accomplishment that you did your best on the ice and the rest isn’t necessarily all up to us.”
Coming back after just missing a medal with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the married couple has been talking about only one thing as they’ve focused on the Milan Games: the gold medal. Being behind the French by .46 of a point — 90.18 points to 89.72 points — doesn’t mean they won’t win, but it’s clear they face some very significant competition.
Being just behind “doesn’t change anything for us,” Chock said. “It’s business as usual.”
This will almost certainly be their last Olympic Games, so they don’t want to miss a thing.
“This week has just been a whirlwind and a dream and we’ve savored every moment,” Chock said. “We’re really looking to just not miss a second of it and enjoy every last drop this Olympic Games has to give us.”
On Tuesday, it’s giving them something they will gladly accept.
A day off.