Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed a silver medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Wednesday following a stunning free dance routine, falling just 1.43 points behind Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, the controversial duo from France.
The Americans were 0.46 points behind Beaudry and Cizeron in the rhythm dance program on Monday. They performed Wednesday’s free dance program to “Paint It Black” by Ramin Djawadi, scoring 134.67, and waited for the French’s turn on the ice. Beaudry and Cizeron scored 135.64, edging out the married American couple by 0.94 points in the free dance.
Chock and Bates have been skating together for 15 years. Beaudry and Cizeron have been a pair for less than a year.
In the team event, for which they helped Team USA win its second consecutive gold, Chock and Bates dominated the rhythm dance and the free dance in what is their fourth consecutive Winter Olympic Games together.
While they have two golds together in the team event, Wednesday’s silver is their first Olympic medal in ice dance.
