ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023: Chock/ Bates, in search of first world title, earn rhythm dance lead
Ice dance will crown a first-time world champion this year, and the American duo topped fellow standout performances from Guignard/Fabbri and Gilles/ Poirier, who finished two-three.
Figure Skating
Who will (ice) dance away as first-time world champions from the ISU World Figure Skating Championships?
Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates took a step closer to making sure that is them after the rhythm dance on Friday (24 March) in Saitama, Japan, hitting a career-best 91.94 to build a 3.73 point lead over the European champions, Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who scored a 88.21.
The Grand Prix Final champs, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada, returned to the ice for the first time in over three months after Gilles underwent an appendicitis midway through the season. They're third at 87.34.
The ice dance discipline is set for a first-time world champion duo as reigning Olympic and world champions Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron chose to sit out this season.
Chock/Bates, in their 10th World Championships appearance, are coming off a U.S. title in January and a win at Four Continents last month. They are three-time medallists at Worlds, including bronze a year ago.
The last team to skate, their Let's Dance remix earned them a Level 4 (the highest) twizzle sequence before they were awarded the same level for their step sequence. They won the day on both the technical (53.33) and Program Component scores (38.61).
"This is definitely the placement we were hoping for today," Bates told reporters. "The biggest takeaway is how we skated and how we handled the moment. We were relaxed, engaged with the audience... The placement is great but the skate was even better."
Said Fabbri of their second-place performance: "Today we felt well on the ice, comfortable. This was by far our best performance of the season. We were very pleased with the score... an 88 at Worlds. We are happy with what we achieved."
Ice dance rhythm dance: Takahashi makes home Worlds return
Great Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson sit fourth at 86.56, while Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensen of Canada round out the top five with a 85.59.
Earlier, home fans roared for Muramoto Kana and her partner, the great Takahashi Daisuke, the Vancouver 2010 bronze medallist and 2010 world champion in singles. Takahashi returned home for a 10th Worlds - and second in dance. They sit in 11th place.
Takahashi last competed at a World Championships in front of a home crowd in 2007 in Tokyo, when he won the silver medal - his first of three world medals.
"It’s my first World Championships in Japan in a long time," Takahashi said. "I’m back, in a different category, and I feel fortunate to have this rare experience. There won’t be another Worlds in Japan for a while after this so this is probably the last one of my life."
"It’s been well more than 10 years since I won my first world medal with Phantom of the Opera [in 2010]," he added. "And I’m doing Phantom again tomorrow. Me back then could never have imagined the me today."
While it was the Canadians who won the GP Final over the Americans in December, Chock/Bates scored a season-best score of 220.81 at Four Continents in the absence of Gilles/Poirier, who missed both that event and their national championships as Gilles recovered from surgery.
ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023: Schedule
The World Championships are back at the Saitama Super Arena - and officials expect huge crowds in the 20,000-seat venue. Worlds was held there in both 2014 and 2019, as well.
The full competition schedule can be found here. All times are local (GMT+9).
Friday, 24 March - Competition schedule at ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2023
- 1720 Women's free skate
Saturday, 25 March - Competition schedule at ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2023
- 1230 Ice dance free dance
- 1720 Men's free skate
Sunday, 26 March - Schedule at ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2023
- 1500 Gala exhibition