Ice dancers propel US to 1st Olympic silver in teams

February 7, 2022:

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.

DEFENDING OLYMPIC CHAMP MIKAELA SHIFFRIN OUT OF GIANT SLALOM

“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 video message for him during the celebration and wished him well; the men’s short program is Tuesday, and Zhou must return a negative test or he will miss the event.

“We basically said: ‘Vincent, we’re sorry to hear the news. We miss you. We wish you were here because you’re a big part of this team. You helped earn the silver medal,’” Bates said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Performing their avant-garde alien-astronaut love story set to Daft Punk’s techno music, Chock — wearing silver makeup and an out-of-this-world hairstyle — and Bates showcased the kind of artistry and emotion that could also land on them on the individual dance podium before the Beijing Games are done.

The Russians easily won the team gold medal, thanks to dominance from history-making Kamila Valieva in the women’s discipline and their strong performance in pairs. The U.S. earned the silver after back-to-back bronze medals at the past two Olympics, while Japan climbed onto the team podium for the first time in third place.

Gold medallists Russia’s Kamila Valieva, Russia’s Mark Kondratiuk, Russia’s Anastasia Mishina, Russia’s Aleksandr Galliamov, Russia’s Victoria Sinitsina and Russia’s Nikita Katsalapov celebrate during the flower ceremony of the figure skating team event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP) (Photo by WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)

It was a roller coaster four days in the team competition for the Americans.

On Friday, fellow ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won the rhythm dance with a season-best score. The spectacular Janet Jackson-inspired performance not only gave the Americans maximum points in their discipline but also energized the team, and Nathan Chen followed with a winning performance in his short program.

After a day off Saturday, the program resumed in disappointing fashion: Zhou repeatedly fell during his short program, and Karen Chen also fell on her final triple loop, allowing Japan to close the gap for the silver medal.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The final day didn’t start much better, either. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, whose short program helped the U.S. build a Day 1 lead, struggled throughout their free skate and that allowed Japan to pull even with Team USA.

Then came Chock and Bates, who saved the Americans’ long-sought silver medal, and Chen, who redeemed herself with a free skate that earned the U.S. enough points to climb one step up the podium.

“I’m so happy. I knew that we had a great shot of getting a medal,” said Chen, who did not skate for the U.S. when it won team bronze in Pyeongchang, which means she did not take home a medal of her own.

“I didn’t allow myself to think about what color — like, what are the chances with the percentage of gold, silver, bronze or whatnot,” she said. “But I’m just really happy that I did my job and that the team was very happy.”

Source link

tags

Abkhazia Afghanistan Africa Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Lucia Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda UK Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay USA Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe