Chock and Bates dance to sixth national title
Madison Chock and Evan Bates perform their Free Dance at the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance
Madison Chock and Evan Bates commanded the Ice Dance event, easily capturing their sixth national title in Ice Dance on Saturday in Wichita, Kan. The event was filled with intense competition and excitement, and it was a battle for the silver and bronze for the next top three teams. In the end, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko moved ahead comfortably to earn their second pair silver medals at this event. Meanwhile, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons edged out Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik for the bronze with 1.20 points separating them.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Despite Chock suffering a bout of food poisoning, the two-time World champions put out a strong and convincing rhythm dance for first place (92.16). The twizzles were excellent, racking up hordes of grades of execution, as did the pattern steps and rotational lift.
With Chock not feeling well, the team did not attend the press conference.
Their free dance to “Take Five” was solid, but it was evident they were not at 100%. The three-time Four Continents champions earned very high GOES on all elements but received one sole negative GOE on the one-foot steps which were graded level two and three. All lifts, twizzles and dance spin earned a level four, and they placed first in the free dance and overall (131.36/223.52).
In the press conference, Bates commended his partner for her tenacity and strength.
“Madi has had a tough couple of days,” he said. “She wasn’t really able to really fuel much because she wasn’t feeling well. She’s so tough. She’s never gonna not go out there and give it her best. I think it took a lot of the little energy that she had to do to just make it through the program, and I just tried to support her. I gave her all the love and support I could, and she’s recovering now, but I think we’ll be okay when we get back home and get ready for four continents.”
The team was honored to share the extraordinary accomplishment of winning six national titles along with Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
“Winning means the world to us,” said Bates. “The U.S. Championships is always an event that we hold near and dear to our hearts. I think it’s because it’s the competition that we grew up coming to every January, watching every year on TV as kids, and it’s really like what made us fall in love with the sport. So, there’s something incredibly magical about this event, and we hold it in very hard.”
Bates further expressed his admiration for Davis and White’s competitive career and legacy.
“They really set the path for us as the next generation, to show us, like, what’s possible,” he said. “We were able to train alongside them. I was able to live with Charlie for a couple years in college. They were the ones who showed us what it takes to become the best team in the world by how hard they trained on the ice and how dedicated they were off the ice. How graceful they were, whether they won or lost. They were so classy every time.”
“I think it’s hard not to understand the gravity of it all. We won our sixth title today,” Bates summed up. “It’s incredible to tie their record and to know the legacy of U.S. ice dance. What this group of skaters has accomplished over the last 25 years is crazy. Looking at the field now, ice dance is in great hands.”
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
The two-time Four Continents bronze medalists finished the rhythm dance event in second place with 82.86 points. Their twizzles and rotational lift were strong, earning a level four. The pattern steps only earned a level one, but the level-three midline steps racked up tons of high GOEs.
“We feel pretty good about our skate today,” said Carreira. “I really don’t think it was our best. We felt very nervous and kind of cautious throughout it, but we’re still happy with the outcome. I think it was still a good performance.”
“It wasn’t our most relaxed run, but we trusted our training and we trusted each other, and we still made it through,” added her partner. “There’s a lot of points that we left on the table. We’re looking to get those points back in the free and have a little bit of a better skate overall, with confidence and going in our elements, as well.”
Carreira and Ponomarenko placed second (127.93 points) in the free dance with their dramatic routine to music from Carmen Suite. With a total score of 210.79 points, the team finished the competition as silver medalists. Their program featured a straightline level-four “bull lift” that was rewarded with high GOEs. The three-time U.S. national medalists also earned a level four on the twizzles, dance spin and their other lifts.
They expressed overall satisfaction with their performance, especially compared to yesterday’s rhythm dance results.
“Overall, I think we feel much better about today’s skate than yesterday,” said Carreira. “Yesterday, we weren’t really happy. We left a lot of points on the table, and overall, it was really cautious, and not how we’ve been skating. But today, I feel like we let go a bit more and we were able to skate to the best of our ability.”
“This free dance has been a big goal of ours to skate,” added Ponomarenko. “I feel like in the Grand Prix season and in the Challengers, we didn’t skate to our full potential. This was a step closer to what we can do in practice. That was a big goal going in, but overall, there’s a lot of pressure in this event. I mean, this ice dance field is stacked from top to bottom, so going in, we just wanted to do the best of our ability, stay focused, and work together. I think we did that this week. Now we will adjust or change a few of the things and improve and see how the rest of the season goes!”
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons
Green and Parsons were tied with Zingas and Kolesnik in the rhythm dance, but finished fourth as their technical score was a bit lower. Their brilliant and upbeat routine featured level-four twizzles and rotational lift, while the pattern and midline steps were graded a three. The 2022 Four Continents champions scored 82.13 points.
“I mean, the moment that we sat down, or the moment that we stepped off the ice today, we’re already preparing for the free dance,” said Parsons. “So, we are focused. We are ready. We feel better than we have, I think, ever in our competitive careers together. This is the first competition since my surgery this past spring that I’ve felt the best and it feels so good to skate with Caroline. It feels so good to be here competing for all the fans and competing with some of our best friends. So, this was a great day. We are really happy about how we skated, and we’re just going even harder tomorrow.”
“The score is something that’s always outside of our control, so it’s really probably the least of our focus right now,” added Green. “I mean, we’ve put in so much work and really built from one event to the next, so to have our best performance here at home in nationals feels really awesome.”
The four-time U.S. national medalists displayed very good lines in their exquisite and moving free dance to “Spiegel im Spiegel” and “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Their routine included level-four twizzles, lifts and spin, as well as good one-foot and diagonal steps. They placed third with 123.24 points, and with a total score of 205.37, edged out Zingas and Kolesnik for the bronze.
“It’s just such a pleasure to skate here,” said Parson. “I’m still very emotional, but I think this is a great culmination of everything we trained for this year. Just everything coming back and having such a strong team to not only train with, but to live up to their expectations and to have a partner that sticks with me and skates like that.”
“This season for us has just been a total recommitment to the joy of skating and enjoying the process together, as well as what we can create when we’re really on that same page,” added his partner. “I think to have the skate we did here today is just a testament to how hard we’ve worked on staying consistent, not just from a technical standpoint, but in our training. This competition has been a total contrast to our experience last year, and we are really at such a different place in our training and our partnership. To have such a positive experience speaks to how hard we’ve worked and how we’ve had to rebuild. It’s just the best thing I could ask for.”
Parsons relayed that much of their focus this season was on coming back.
“Last year, we never skated up to what we knew our potential was,” he explained. “We never trained as well as we could, just because I wasn’t fully there. I was dealing with injuries the entire season, and so this season started off as a comeback. I no longer think that that’s an appropriate term to apply to this season, because we are not coming back anymore. We are better than we have been, and we are going to continue getting better. But it feels really good to be where we are right now.”
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik performed a phenomenal rhythm dance to the Bee Gees Medley for third place. The crowd loudly cheered for their score of 82.13. The 2023 U.S. national pewter medalists faced recent challenges, including recovering from illnesses, but nonetheless delivered a performance they were proud of. The twizzles were graded a level four and three, but the pattern steps and rotational lift were both graded a level four. All elements earned high GOEs.
“I’m very happy with our skate today,” said Kolesnik. “There were minor mistakes there and there, but I’m happy overall.”
“I think coming into the event, we had some time to really build up again and work really hard, and we used that time really well,” added Zingas. “I think it showed today. I’m feeling more confident. We are happy on the ice, and I think we just tried to show that, and it paid off!”
“I got a little sick, but it all worked out,” said Kolesnik. “The adrenaline hit me, and I was really happy to be there.”
Zingas is also recovering from a recent case of pneumonia, but the team is “stoked” to be at competition and to put out a skate they are proud of.
The 2022 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb bronze medalist performed “Epilogue” by Olafur Arnalds and “Lost It to Trying” by Son Lux, a program deeply cherished by the audience and the team themselves. Even though Kolesnik is still recovering from an illness, the team displayed intricate choreography as well as level-four lifts, dance spin, and twizzles. They finished fourth (122.04) in the free dance and overall (204.17), missing the podium by a mere 1.21 points.
“I think we did the best we could,” said Zingas. “It was a challenging season overall, and we’ve been dealing with some things on and off the ice. I’m really proud of how we handled ourselves, and I think we’ve shown a lot of growth and more maturity from last year to this year. I’m really proud, especially with Vadym. He is a very strong person, and I’m really happy to skate with him.”
“I pushed myself to the limit for this free dance,” added Kolesnik. “I was feeling a little bit under the weather, and I could feel it in the middle of the program. My lungs were giving out. My body was going so slow, and I was about to give up in my head. But during twizzles, something inside of me clicked, like, ‘come on, you gotta go. You gotta fight until the end.'”
Reflecting on their season and future goals, Zingas added: “We just want to say it’s not all for us. Yet, we will be working hard, and we will come back stronger and better, and we know that this is not the best we can do in the future, but for right now, we’re very happy.”
Oona Brown and Gage Brown finished fifth (193.37) followed closely by Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville (193.28).
It was announced that the top two teams, along with Zingas and Kolesnik, were assigned to the 2025 Four Continents Championships. The top three teams have been given the nod for the 2025 World Championships later in March.
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