ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Madison Chock and Evan Bates felt relieved to finally be performing a short dance that was more than a few weeks old.
Using their third different program of the season, Chock and Bates lead at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships as they seek to defend their ice dance title.
The top three teams from last year held the same spots after Friday’s short dance. Chock and Bates, the 2015 world silver medalists, scored 75.14 points, followed by siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani with 74.67 and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue with 71.10.
“This has been the most challenging season for us,” Bates said.
They had constantly been tweaking their free dance, too. After finishing a distant second at the Grand Prix Final, he and Chock took “a necessary break” of a few weeks.
“Coming back to the rink after the holidays, we really felt refreshed and rejuvenated,” Bates said. “We knew we had pushed really hard to kind of survive through Grand Prixs, because we had never been in that kind of situation before with so much change.”
With Olympic gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White stepping away, Chock and Bates won their first U.S. title a year ago. They led at the world championships after the short dance but were overtaken for the gold.
Seeking to find programs that will win on the biggest international stages, Chock and Bates are happy with the short dance they eventually chose — a foxtrot followed by the required waltz to an Italian rendition of “Unchained Melody.” Training is going better now than it did in the fall, Bates said.
“We’re really thrilled with the way it went today,” he added, “and we kind of turned a new page after Grand Prix Final. … I think we’re set up well for the rest of the season.”
The Shibutanis, performing to the comedic ballet “Coppelia,” are closer to Chock and Bates after the short dance than they were at the Grand Prix Final, posting their best technical scores of the season Friday. As Bates noted, though, the margin was just .11 points after the short dance last year, and he and Chock went on to win easily. The free dance is Saturday.
For siblings who like to post YouTube videos, “Coppelia” was a good fit.
“It’s really allowed us to show more of our comedic, playful side,” said Maia Shibutani, whose character is a dancing doll.
The men’s short program is later Friday.