Team USA figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates performed an incredible free dance during Wednesday’s Winter Olympics competition, earning them a silver medal in the event. Their 224.39 score fell short to France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron’s 225.82 in the end.
Chock and Bates, a married couple, entered the Olympics as a favorite to win the gold medal, and were nearly there in Milan Cortina. Their second-place finish sparked some controversy online, as fans believe the American duo should’ve captured the gold.
As for Chock and Bates themselves, they were understandably emotional after their performance, for many different reasons. They skated four times in six days (twice for the team event and twice for individual), and they gave it their all on the ice. Here’s what the couple had to say Wednesday night.
“At the end of the fourth [performance], the emotions just came flooding out because it's just a lot,” Bates said, via Golden Skate. “And we really did our best. I think that is something that we'll try to remember and focus on most. We really did our best. We delivered every time we stepped on the ice. ... Sometimes you can feel like you do everything right and it doesn't go your way. And that's life and that's sport, and it's a subjective sport, it's a judge sport. One fact, we did our best, we skated our best. We felt like we were very close.”
Simply BEAUTIFUL. This is what 15 years of skating together looks like. 😍 pic.twitter.com/UQhpVEBB90
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 11, 2026
“We delivered our best. We skated our best. We felt like we skated a winning performance,” Chock said in the mixed zone on Wednesday, via The Athletic’s Lukas Weese.
Chock and Bates are grateful for the opportunity to compete together for the last 15 years, and win three Olympic medals together (they have a team event gold medal from the 2022 and ‘26 Olympics).
“It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment,” Chock said. “We have so much to be proud of. We've had the most incredible career, 15 years on the ice together. We delivered four of our best performances this week. I'm really proud of how we've handled ourselves and what we've accomplished here.”
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- Team USA’s Nathan Pare Calls Out Judges for Controversial Disqualification in Snowboard Cross
- Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych Writes New Chapter in the Olympic Protest Tradition
- Winter Olympics Day 6 Live Updates: Ukranian Athlete Disqualified for Helmet
- One Down, Three to Go: Jordan Stolz Jumpstarts Legendary Run With First Gold
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Madison Chock, Evan Bates Share Emotional Reactions to Winning Silver in Ice Dancing.
