Canadian ice dancers Marie-Jade Lauriault, Romain Le Gac capture bronze at Skate America

Canadian ice dancers Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac won bronze on the final day of Skate America, the opening ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event of the season.

The duo from Quebec finished with 178.30 points following a third-place finish in the free dance on Sunday in Norwood, Massachusetts. 

The Canadians entered the day in podium position after finishing third in Saturday's rhythm dance with 72.12 points, and they secured bronze with another strong performance.

"It was a dream we've had for a long time. Now that we've reached this goal it opens the door to many more dreams we'd like to see come true," Lauriault said.

Lauriault and Le Gac have been married since 2015. They represented France until 2020 before switching to represent Canada.

WATCH | Canada's Lauriault, Romain Le Gac win ice dance bronze:

Madison Chock and Evan Bates stood atop the podium at Skate America for the first time in seven years, and along the way, stepped into the spotlight as the preeminent American ice dancers following the retirement of close friends and longtime training mates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

Despite a miscue on their character step sequence — they got no points for the free dance element — Chock and Bates still managed to squeak by fellow Americans Kaitlin Hawayak and Jean-Luc Baker by the slimmest of margins.

Chock and Bates scored 202.80 points, while Hawayak and Baker finished with 202.07.

WATCH | Chock, Bates top ice dance podium:

"Obviously there's work to do," Bates said, "but we're not a couple to shy away from that. We definitely know what we need to work on. We have a couple of weeks at home before we head off to Japan for NHK Trophy and we know what to do."

Chock and Bates, who were third at