Madison Chock and Evan Bates lifted their record-breaking seventh US national ice dance title in St. Louis. With that, they also etched their names into history with a score of 228.87, breaking the previous record held by the iconic duo of Meryl Davis and Charlie White. But in what is unofficially their final year of competition, Chock and Bates, or Bock, as fans have dubbed them, were in a reflective mood.

In this shining light of victory, Evan Bates talked not about their dominance on ice but about the path they have been on since the 2011-12 season. “No journey is linear, and ours certainly hasn’t been. And, I think those years where we felt the struggle set us up for this run now that we’ve been enjoying for the last four years or so,” the American ice dancer said, as reported by Golden Skate on X.

“And I think the domestic rivalries that we had through that span of time sharpened us for international competition. And when I look at the landscape of US ice dance right now, and I see the talent on the podium, and just off the podium, the field is so deep.”

Now at the tail end of their careers in the sport, Chock and Bates have been defined by their iconic rivalries. In the early 2010s, they were locked in a fierce battle with Maia and Alex Shibutani, trading the national title season by season. But come 2018, it was the Shibutanis who pulled away to secure Olympic bronze in 2018.

Following their retirement, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were their main contenders. Internationally, Hubbell and Donohue had more favorable results, as they too went on to win bronze at the 2022 Olympics.

Four years later, it looks like it’s finally time for Chock and Bates to win their first individual Olympic medal. Now married, the two formed a team in the 2011-12 season and took over a decade to reach the very top of the sport. Their first major victory came as the US National Ice Dance title in 2015, followed by their first Four Continents Championship title in 2019 and their first World Championship title in 2023.

With so much experience and perspective to draw from, Bates also acknowledged the up-and-coming athletes who made it to the podium of the event.

Both couples who secured the silver and the bronze medals at Nationals were firmly part of the next generation of ice dancers. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik came 2nd with 213.65, and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko secured 3rd with 206.95.

Watching the bright future of the US ice dancers, Bates made a bold claim, saying, “And I hope and I know that those teams are going to sharpen each other for the next quad, or two quads, or three quads, and you know, the run of US ice dance on the world podium, I think, is going to continue for a long time.”

However, with this iconic victory, the 3x world champions also became assured of their ambitions for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Madi Chock and Evan Bates are locked in for the Olympics

The Milano-Cortina Olympic Games will serve as Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ fourth Olympic adventure. In Beijing 2022, they achieved their first gold, but it was in the form of a team medal. Plus, Team USA initially secured silver and was only bumped up to gold after the ROC lost the gold following Kamila Valieva’s doping case, which took over two years to conclude.

“As the time has gone by, it almost feels like it didn’t happen at times,” said Chock in 2023. “And when we think about it, it’s hard not to get emotional and just feel kind of sad about the whole situation and how it’s turned out and how long it’s taking to be handled.”

But four years later, Chock and Bates and Team USA are once again contenders for team gold, as well as individual ice dance gold, in what looks to be their final appearance at the Winter Olympics. And they’re approaching it with laser focus:

“It’s going to be a lot more what it has been. We know what to do. We have our plan, and we’re executing it, and we don’t plan on deviating from it. We’re going to stick to it, trust ourselves, trust our team, and do what we know how to do, which is prepare and execute,” Chock confidently said of their approach to training ahead of the Olympic Games.

Similarly, Bates agreed with what his partner said, adding, “I think our performance today was definitely the best that we’ve skated the free dance all year. And I think it shows that the plan Madison just spoke about is working. And, we like to build momentum through the season. It’s a great feeling going into a big event knowing that you’ve skated well at the previous competition. So, we’re going to roll with that momentum into Milan.”

Now, with just a few weeks remaining until the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, only time will tell what fate has in store for the US ice dancers.