BOSTON — Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates posted the world’s best rhythm dance score in two years, opening their bid to become the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world titles in 28 years.
Chock and Bates tallied 90.18 points at TD Garden on Friday, taking a 3.74-point lead into Saturday’s free dance (1:30-5 p.m. ET, Peacock, and 3-5 p.m., USA Network).
“We’re the most prepared that we’ve ever been, and we’re ready to go,” Chock said on NBC Sports.
Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who beat Chock and Bates at the Four Continents Championships last month, are in second. Gilles and Poirier are three-time world medalists — all silver or bronze.
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Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, fourth the last two years, are in third. They can become the first British skaters to win a world championships medal since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won ice dance titles in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984.
Chock and Bates are trying to become the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world titles since Russians Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov won four in a row from 1994-97.
Chock and Bates, ice dance partners since 2011 and married since last June, are already the oldest world champions in the event’s history.
Their leads after the rhythm dance at worlds were slightly smaller in 2023 (3.37) and 2024 (2.56).
"(3.74) is a tough amount of points to catch up on, but we also know that sport is really unpredictable,” Poirier said.
Now 32 and 36, Chock and Bates will bid next year to make a fourth Olympics together and hope to win their first Olympic medals in ice dance. They are already gold medalists from the team event in 2022.
Worlds continues later Friday with the women’s free skate, starting at 6 p.m. ET on Peacock with NBC also coming on at 8 p.m. for the final groups.
2025 World Figure Skating Championships Results
Rhythm Dance
1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) — 90.18
2. Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) -- 86.44
3. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) — 83.86
4. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) -- 83.04
5. Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (CAN) -- 81.77
6. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) -- 81.51
7. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) -- 77.51
8. Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (ESP) -- 77.21
9. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) -- 76.64
10. Katerina Mrazkova/Daniel Mrazek (CZE) -- 74.49
