Chock and Bates Eye Podium, Plan to Continue

As Madison Chock and Evan Bates took the ice for the free dance portion of the team competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, they realized it was an opportunity unlike any other that they have experienced in their decade-long career together. Skating their alien-astronaut love story program, the three-time Olympians (Bates has been to a fourth with a different partner) seized the day and finished in first place in that portion of the competition, helping Team USA capture its first team silver medal in the event's history.
 
"It was the highlight of my Olympic experience for sure," Chock said of their performance. "There was something so special about being able to share that moment with our fellow teammates and to compete as a united team, because that's really what our team was. To be able to share that experience and bond with them so deeply is something that will last a lifetime—longer than a medal or the excitement of a title. It was just such an amazing bonding experience, and we did win a medal which is incredible, and honestly that will last a lifetime too, so it was all in all a very incredible experience."
 
Bates added, "Not having the medal is a little bit of a painful reminder of something that occurred that we had no control over or wasn't due to anything that we did wrong. That's something I think that I've been dealing with is remembering that I felt some type of negative emotion around the team event now because of all this, but when I really think about it, we skated great, we won our segment, and we did nothing wrong."
 
With the team event fracas in full swing, Chock and Bates shifted gears and prepared themselves for the individual competition. Riding high on the momentum from their team event performance, the duo established themselves as medal hopefuls and they were looking forward to fighting for a spot on the podium. At the close of the competition, Chock and Bates found themselves in perhaps the most heartbreaking position—one spot out of the medals in fourth place. 
 
"You're still fourth in the Olympics out of the whole world, which is awesome, but you just missed the podium by one spot," Chock said. "That part is difficult, but we did do our best at that time when we were at the Olympics. We put out the best performances that we possibly could have in those moments; we really gave it our all and so there is nothing that we regret."
 
Once they returned to their training base in Montreal, Chock and Bates got back to work in preparation for the World Championships. Emotionally drained after living out what both admit was an emotional roller coaster full of highs, lows, and with a dowse of confusion, the duo reconfirmed their commitment to finish out the season on a high.
 
"We always committed to doing Worlds after the Olympics," Bates stated. "This year, especially even considering being older athletes, we wanted to commit to the full season and relish the opportunity to take the ice at the World Championships, realizing that it's such a big important competition. Even in an Olympic year it's still a World Championships, a World champion will be crowned, and we want to be there. It was something that we had decided a while ago and we didn't really waver on that."
 
Chock and Bates aspire to once again ascend to the World Championships podium in Montpellier—something that they already experienced twice in their career. The last time the duo stood on any World Championships podium was in 2016 when the competition was held in Boston. Should they accomplish this goal, Chock and Bates would be the first team in the sport's history to make it back to the podium after a six-year hiatus.
 
"I think a lot of it is just a testament to our perseverance and not accepting a fate," Chock surmised. "We want to create our own storyline and keep pushing ourselves and just be the best that we possibly can be and hopefully that leads us back to where we want to be."
 
Following the World Championships, Chock and Bates have been invited to tour with the Stars on Ice franchise, first in Japan for six shows and then for the full tour in the United States. And although it has been a long and pressure-packed season, the couple is invigorated by the prospect of getting back out into the world with the heartbeat of the skating community—the fans.
 
"Honestly this is one of the perks of being an elite figure skater and being at the top of your game," Chock explained. "It's like you get these opportunities to go perform around the world and share your passion with the audiences that have had so few opportunities to see live skating, so in that aspect it's going to be really special. And we get to share that again with our Olympic teammates who we have grown so close to, so it'll be a celebratory time I think, and we're going to enjoy every moment of it. It's a huge celebration. We've all worked so hard, and this is part of the reward."
 
After the tour is complete, Chock and Bates are hoping to take some time to recharge and to celebrate Chock's 30th birthday in July.
 
"We just printed off a big schedule and started looking at it and it is a little hectic," Bates admitted. "I mean when you write it down especially and it was really a necessary exercise for us, but we were talking about maybe celebrating a big birthday this summer with somebody, so we were just throwing around ideas. I don't know what we're going to do, but a vacation somewhere for sure, at some point."
 
Though vacation plans are still in the early stages, Chock and Bates have made their intentions clear about their career.

"We don't feel like we're done," Bates revealed. "We still feel motivated and still feel like there is room for improvement, and we have some ideas for programs we still want to do. I'm not sure how far but we're not stopping quite yet."