Ice dance opened the next phase of the Olympic figure skating team event with Madison Chock and Evan Bates keeping Team USA out front in the top spot. Skating their “Paint it, Black” free dance, inspired by flamenco and paso doble flavors, the husband-and-wife duo laid it all out on the ice, with incredible precision, power and control.
The husband-and-wife duo scored a season’s best 133.23 points overall. For the three-time reigning world champions, it was an authoritative statement ahead of the individual event in which they have a narrow edge for ice dance gold – the one major title missing from their résumé. The seven-time U.S. national champions have hinted this could be their final season, and they skated like a team determined to control the narrative, especially with new French challengers Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron looming in the individual event later in the Games
FULL RESULTS
Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri kept the host nation’s medal push rolling in second with 124.22 to earn nine team points. The veteran duo — both skating their fourth Olympics — have talked openly about the emotional lift of competing in Milan, just minutes from home. After a stutter in their medal momentum starting with a 4th place finish at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships last March, their momentum has taken a late-season surge again with a European Championship silver medal last month. They followed that up with a strong rhythm dance showing yesterday and with a soulful, emotional performance to their free dance skated to music from Italian film, “Diamanti,” Italy’s team-medal hopes remain on track.
Finishing the event in 3rd, was up-and-coming Canadian team Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, who skated in a surprise substitution for Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier with 120.90, earning eight points. Their mature and technically complex performance showed a rising depth for Team Canada as the duo took their first steps on Olympic ice.
