Chock and Bates in Gold Medal Position Entering Free Dance

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are one performance away from accomplishing their biggest goal this season: becoming World champions.

The three-time World medalists topped the standings after the rhythm dance at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023 in Saitama, Japan, setting a new international personal best by more than four points and breaking the 90-point mark on international ice for the first time with 91.94 points.

On Saturday, Chock and Bates will look to clinch their first World title Saturday and become just the second U.S. ice dance team to win gold.

Last to take the ice, Chock and Bates, who earned bronze at the World Championships last season, came out on fire, earning more than 10 points for each of their first three elements. Skating to "Let's Dance" by David Bowie, they followed their cleanly executed Level 4 sequential twizzles with a Level 4 midline step sequence, which was the highest scoring element of the competition at 13.14 points.

After the rhythm dance, Chock and Bates hold a lead of nearly four points over Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy, who are in second with 88.21 points. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada will enter the free skate in third with 87.34 points.

"We feel great! We skated as best we possibly could today. It was so much fun," Bates said. "The Japanese audience was giving us so much love. We were very delighted to give a great performance for them today. We're thrilled with the score as well. It's always nice when you come off the ice feeling like you've skated well and then you see a score that reflects the feeling that you had inside." 

Making their World Championships debut, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finished the rhythm dance in sixth while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko claimed 10th.

Green and Parsons, who won their first Grand Prix medal at NHK Trophy earlier this season, recorded a new season's best of 78.74. Their performance to "Vocalizando," "Historia De Un Amor" and "Boutique" earned Level 4 marks on their sequential twizzles and curve lift.

"I feel like I'm living like a dream right now," Parsons said. "This is my first Worlds, it's in Japan and we just skated the best we possibly could. I'm so happy with what Caroline has done, what we've done with our coaches. Now it's just 'buckle up, get ready for tomorrow.' I'm really, really proud with how we skated today." 

Carreira and Ponomarenko's skate to "Kind of Latin Rhythm," "Where do I Begin" and "Samba" by Gloria Estefan received 75.24 points. Their highest scoring element was their Level 3 pattern dance type step sequence.

"We're really happy with how today went and I think it was probably the best performance of the season for us," Carreira said. "The crowd is amazing. We're just really happy to be here. Our experience here has been amazing, and the fact that it's in Japan is even better." 

In the women's event, Isabeau Levito led Team USA, finishing just off the podium in fourth place.

A year after winning gold at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022, Levito proved to be one of the top seniors in the world as the youngest competitor in the women's field tallied 134.62 points for her free skate performance to "Dulcea Si Tandra Mea Fiara" by Catalina Caraus & Eugen Doga. She earned a total score of 207.65.

After a fall on her opening triple Lutz, Levito recovered nicely and received positive grades of execution on all her remaining elements. The reigning U.S. champion successfully completed five triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-Euler-triple Salchow in the second half of the performance that received nearly 13 points from the judges. She also earned Level 4 designations on each of her spins and her step sequence.

"I am severely disappointed because I've been nailing my (triple) Lutz-(triple) loop for a really long time and this is the first time I've messed it up in a while and of course it had to be when it actually counted," Levito said. "But I'm pretty happy with myself for just trying to move past it and focusing on making the most out of the rest of the program." 

Amber Glenn, who stood on the podium next to Levito at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships with bronze, finished 12th in her Worlds debut.

Although she underrotated her triple Axel attempt, Glenn came back for a strong triple flip-triple toe loop combination. She went on to score 122.81 for the segment and 188.33 overall.

"Of course, the free skate wasn't what I wanted or what I've been training, but I feel that mentally I held myself together." 

In her climate change themed free skate, 2018 Olympian Bradie Tennell was awarded 117.69 points for a two-day total of 184.14, good for 15th place.

"It was just a lot of nerves today with it being my first Worlds back and overall, I'm just really happy with the fight that I displayed and I'm just proud of making it back here and fighting through all the ups and downs of this season to finish this season respectively and put everything I have out there," Tennell said. 

Kaori Sakamoto defended her World title, winning gold with a total of 224.61 points. Haein Lee of Korea and Loena Hendrickx of Belgium secured silver and bronze with scores of 220.94 and 210.42, respectively.

The World Championships conclude Saturday with the free dance and men's free skate. To follow Team USA as they vie for the podium, including the day's schedule, results, streaming information and more, visit the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023 Competition Central.