Ice dancers propel US to 1st Olympic silver in teams

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BEIJING (AP) — Madison Chock and ice dance partner Evan Bates knew what they were up against as figure skating’s team competition drew to a close at the Beijing Olympics and the American chances of a silver medal started to slip away.

"I had heard the Russians’ (score) right before we skated and I was like ‘Oh, that’s such a hefty score,’" Chock said in a dark hallway inside Capital Indoor Stadium on the third day of the medley event. "And then it was like: ‘All right. Focus.’"

Did they ever.

With poise and precision, Chock and Bates proceeded to win the discipline with a score of 129.17, less than a point ahead of the world champion Russians, who had been penalized a point for an overly long lift. That gave Team USA the maximum of 10 points and just about locked up its first silver medal in three editions of the team competition.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of Team United States skate during the Ice Dance Free Dance Team Event on day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images) (Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images)

That spot on the podium was confirmed a few minutes later, when Karen Chen did what she needed to do in her free skate.

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"A silver medal is something we should be incredibly proud of. It’s the highest achievement for our team in this event," Bates said. "Up until today, we haven’t skated the free dance as well as we could in the season. But it happened today."

As the U.S. team accepted its medals, missing from the podium was Vincent Zhou, who returned a positive COVID-19 test earlier in the day. The team shot a