Madison Chock and Evan Bates perform at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final on Dec. 6, 2019 in Turin, Italy.
Skating to a season-best score in the free dance, two-time Olympic ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates led an American two-three podium finish in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final on Saturday in Torino, Italy.
Chock and Bates, who were third in the competition following Friday’s rhythm dance, moved up to second place by scoring 129.01 in the free dance. Their total score was 210.68.
Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue, 2018 Olympians, placed third to win the bronze medal, scoring 125.21 in their free dance for a 207.93 total score.
France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, four-time world champions and Olympic silver medalists, won the gold medal with a score of 219.85.
Chock and Bates reached the podium for the third time in five Grand Prix Final appearances. They won silver medals in 2014 and 2015.
Chock and Bates have reached the podium in all three grand prix appearances this season, including second-place finishes at Internationaux de France and Cup of China. Their podium finish Saturday added to an impressive line of grand prix finishes: including the Finals, Chock and Bates have medaled in 15 of their 20 grand prix appearances.
Hubbell and Donohue reached the podium in the Grand Prix Final for the second consecutive year in their fifth appearance. They were defending champs, and had reached the final with a first-place finish at Skate America and second-place finish at Skate Canada International.
The U.S. teams positioned themselves for podium spots after finishing two-three in Friday’s rhythm dance. Hubbell and Donohue, skating in a Marilyn Monroe-themed program, were second with 82.72 points, just 1.11 points behind Papadakis and Cizeron. Chock and Bates were in third place after scoring 81.67.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
