Madison Chock and Evan Bates tied the American record and won their sixth ice dance title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday.
Chock and Bates join Meryl Davis and Charlie White as the only duo to win the U.S. Ice Dance Championship six times. The former pair secured this year’s crown with a combined score of 223.52, ahead of second place Cristina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who scored 210.79.
“(Davis and White) really broke down the door and set the course for us as the next generation and showed us what’s possible,” Bates said. “We were able to train with them, and I was able to live with Charlie for a few years in college.
“They showed us what it takes to be the best team in the world, how hard they trained on the ice, how dedicated they were off the ice, how graceful they were. It was people.”
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finished in the top three with 205.37 points.
In other matches on Saturday, Alisa Efimova and Mischa Mitrofanov scored a total of 211.90 points to dethrone Ellie Kamm and Danny O’Shea as free skate champions. Cam and O’Shea (combined score 189.57) finished third behind Katie McBeath and Danneel Parkman (190.57).
“I feel like I gave it my all on the ice,” Efimova told NBC Sports. “I didn’t have any feelings left, but I realized that I still had them, and they all came out in this little cry in my hands.”
Meanwhile, Ilya Marinin heads into Sunday’s free skate with a 114.08-94.94 advantage over Andrew Tolgashev. This is the largest margin in U.S. Figure Skating Championship history, and Marinin is aiming for her third consecutive national title.
–Field level media
