Chock and Bates dance to first NHK Trophy gold in Tokyo
2024 NHK Trophy | Ice Dance
USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates took their first NHK Trophy Ice Dance title on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Teammates Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko earned the silver, while Lithuania’s Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius pocketed the bronze.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates
The two-time World Champions put out very good rhythm dance, racking up high grades of execution (GOE) throughout. The twizzles and rotational lift were graded a level four, while the midlines steps were a four and three. The pattern steps received a level three, and they earned 86.32 for first place in this segment.
“We are very happy with our performance today!” said Chock. “We had so much fun performing for the crowd. They were great! As soon as they started clapping along with the music in the beginning, it was just it went by so quickly and yeah, we had a really good time!”
“I think we made some really good strides since Skate America,” Bates pointed out. “Specifically with this program. We put a lot of effort into improving it; changed some of the music and some of the choreography, which can be challenging in the midst of the Grand Prix. So, I think we’re really proud of the step forward that we took with this program today.”
The 2024 Skate America silver medalists made lots of headway with tons of GOEs and high program components in their free dance. They displayed strong level-four twizzles, lifts and a dance spin in their jazzy and complex routine to “Take Five,” picking up 129.63 points for first place. Their total score was 215.95—nearly 17 points higher than that of their second-place teammates.
“I feel amazing!” said Chock. “I am really just so happy to be here in Japan. We had two great performances this week, so it’s a great way to kick off the next part of the season leading into the Grand Prix Final in December. And yeah, just really appreciated the crowd. They were amazing and just always such a joy to perform!”
“Anytime the skaters are selected for NHK Trophy, we all do a little celebration because we’re so excited to come to this competition,” said Bates. “The way the JSF organizes, you know, takes great care of the athletes. You saw today like Alison (Reed) was saying ‘full stands’ and it just makes the skaters feel really appreciated and really good. So, we’re very, very honored to be here and excited to take home the gold medal.”
The top three teams were asked about challenged and experimenting with new things in the pre-Olympic season.
“This year is no different,” said Chock. “I’m sure we’ll face different things as we approach next season. But each year is an opportunity for growth and an opportunity to understand yourself better as a person and an athlete. And I think we’re just looking forward to the takeaways that we’ll get from this season so we can be best prepared for our Olympic season next year.”
The four-time national champions now have a total 28 points going into the Grand Prix Final.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
The two-time Four Continents bronze medalists earned a new personal best of 79.64 for second place with their entertaining rhythm dance. They were on top of their game, earning many positive GOEs throughout. The twizzles and rotational lift were graded a level four, while the footwork was a level three.
“We’re really happy with how we skated today,” said Carreira. “We’ve been working really hard and came in really prepared, so we’re happy that that could show. We love being here in Japan, and the crowd is incredible. We feel very lucky to be here!”
“This is our third competition of the season, so we’re coming in prepared,” agreed Ponomarenko. “We wanted to use two challengers to be building blocks for this competition, and we’re really happy with how today went. It was very clean, technically. I feel like there’s a lot more that we could give, but this is a very good step forward for this time of year.”
Skating to music from the Carmen Suite, the three-time national medalists showcased level-four twizzles, lifts and dance spin. The serpentine steps were graded a level three, and they earned many positive GOEs on all elements in their ardent free dance. The finished second in this segment and overall (119.33/198.97) to win silver—their third Grand Prix medal.
“We’re really happy with how this week went,” said Carreira. “We’ve been working really hard these last few weeks, and I think the two programs we put out were much better than what we did at the Challengers. It was such a joy to perform for the Japanese audience and we’re really happy overall!”
“It’s truly an honor to do this at NHK,” said Ponomarenko of returning to the podium. “It was really, really special and we’ve been off the podium at every Grand Prix just like so, so close to it. To finally crack a podium, it’s special and it’s a testament of the hard work that we’ve put in the past few summers and seasons, and I’m really proud to skate with Christina and to share this podium with this table her.”
Regarding gathering steam and experimenting for the Olympic season, Ponomarenko said this started several years ago for them.
“I think the dance field in the United States is very talented,” he said. “We have so many teams cracking 180s, 190s. That, every day, is a build towards the Olympics, and there’s no days off. It’s hard work, and as it approaches, I think staying consistent and doing exactly what we’re doing, I believe we’ll make it. So, it’s one step at a time.”
They will compete next at Cup of China.
Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius
The 2024 European bronze medalists were confident in their fun rhythm dance, improving from Grand Prix de France by more than three points in their rhythm dance (77.91). The twizzles, pattern steps and rotational lift were graded a level four while the midlines steps were a level three.
“We’re also very happy with our performance today,” Reed said in the press conference. “It was a quick turnaround for us since we have back-to-back Grand Prixes. We came into this comp with mini goals to achieve because we had no time to fix or change anything. We accomplished those, so we’re really happy with that. The crowd started to clap from the moment our music started. It was really, really helpful and we loved the atmosphere. It was great to perform!”
“It’s always fun and a pleasure to skate in front of the Japanese crowd,” added her partner. “Every single time (we are) seeing more and more Lithuanian flags in Japan. It brings much joy personally to my heart, and also for our team. The support is great, and it gives an extra fuel for us to perform. It’s like a third team player in our program, and we appreciate that a lot!”
The two-time Grand Prix bronze medalists improved their free dance score from last week in France by nearly seven points with 117.61 points. Their innovative “master and puppet” routine to music by Apashe was highlighted by their level four lifts and spin. However, they lost a level on the twizzles, which were graded a level three. Still, they finished third in this segment and overall (195.52) to capture the bronze.
“We’re pretty thrilled with our performance today,” said Reed. “We think it went a lot better than it did in France, and to know coming off back-to-back Grand Prixes is that that performance was a lot, lot better. We were really happy with it, and as everyone said, it’s lovely to skate in front of this crowd and see like full stands at 12 o‘clock in the afternoon. So yeah, it was a really good day!”
“It felt way better,” agreed Ambrulevicius. “As Alison mentioned, we’re very happy how we finished the Grand Prix cyle this year. Skating in Japan always is a privilege and the organization does the competition so well. And it helps us to just honor what we do and put our hard work to show you what we can. “
“And I agree with Anthony,” he added. “It’s such an honor and pleasure to skate with this group of people. And we see how everyone works hard and to see everyone succeed and put their hard work into action is just great. So, we’re happy to be on the podium again and just keep going. I love it.”
Reed feels that regardless of the Olympics, every season is an “opportunity to grow and to push boundaries.”
“If you know me and Sol, we always really like to choose music that others have not skated to and we’re huge on our storytelling,” she said. “We really like to tell a story with our programs. So, this year is probably why this free dance is one of my favorites to perform.”
“Sol can say the same,” she continued. “And I could argue that the pre-Olympic season was almost more important because the qualifier is in this pre-season and we’re just really looking forward to performing at Worlds and hopefully getting that spot from Lithuania. Hopefully we’ll be the ones to go this time. So, we’re just really looking forward to the second half of the season, just growing our programs.”
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons
USA’s Caroline Green and Michael Parsons placed fourth (74.38) in the rhythm dance with their fun 60s routine. Their routine was highlighted by level-four twizzles and a curve lift. The pattern steps were graded a level three and the midline steps were a level two and three.
The 2022 Four Continents champion gave a sophisticated performance to Spiegel im Spiegel and “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Their free dance featured level-four twizzles, lifts and dance spin, and they scored 114.38 points for fourth place. They finished fourth overall with a total score of 188.76.
They will compete next at Cup of China.
Loicia Demougeot and Theo Le Mercier of France placed fifth overall (178.30), followed by Finland’s Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen (175.28) and Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan of Germany (173.36).
Related info:
The post Chock and Bates dance to first NHK Trophy gold in Tokyo appeared first on Golden Skate.