The word "rivalry" tends to carry a combative connotation, so perhaps it's best to describe the relationship between American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates and their Canadian counterparts, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, as healthy competition.
They are fond for each other. Yet they also push each other every time they step on the ice.
That was the case again after the rhythm dance at the world championships on Friday in Boston, when Chock and Bates delivered a season-best performance to take the lead heading into the free dance. Their score of 90.18 points was nearly four ahead of Gilles and Poirier, their closest challengers, giving them quite a cushion heading into Saturday's night conclusion.
WATCH l Gilles, Poirier earn 86.44 points in rhythm dance:
Gilles and Poirier sit in 2nd place after the rhythm dance program at worlds
"That's a tough amount of points to catch up on," Poirier admitted, "but we also know that sport is really unpredictable. It's been an unpredictable season. And so our job is to come out tomorrow and skate to the best of our abilities, and share with the crowd and with the skating community our art and our craft, and what we enjoy doing."
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were third with 83.86 for Britain, and Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri looked out of sync while scoring 83.06 for fourth. They were the only countries to break up a whole lot of Canada and U.S. on the leaderboard.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha were fifth for Canada, just ahead of two American teams — Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko and the duo of Caroline Green and Michael Parsons — giving the neighbouring nations five of the top seven.
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