FIGURE SKATING
Chock/Bates (USA) dance to third ISU World gold in front of home crowd
29 Mar 2025
Home favorites Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) delivered a fantastic performance to dance off with their third consecutive title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 in Boston (USA). The 13,000 spectators in the sold-out TD Garden and millions of viewers on screens worldwide enjoyed a spectacular Ice Dance finale, with beautiful performances that lit up the ice.
Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) three-peat
Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) did it again, earning their third consecutive World title with another perfect performance. Canadians Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier repeated as silver medalists, while Great Britain’s Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson took the bronze, the first World medal for Great Britain since 1984.
To win a World title is huge, but to do it on home ice is even more special. When Chock/Bates stepped on the ice as the last couple to skate the atmosphere was electric. The pressure was on after strong performances by their competitors, but Chock/Bates delivered another excellent Free Dance in what was their 12th ISU World Championships as a team.
Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) made the podium for the fourth-straight year Saturday at the ISU World Championships in Boston © ISU
Their jazzy program to “Take Five” featured intricate footwork and exciting lifts, executed at high speed. Chock/Bates scored 131.88 points and accumulated 222.06 points for a confident victory with 5.5 points to spare. Nine years ago, the couple won the World bronze medal in Boston, and their victory today was a testament to their longevity and class.
“It means the world to us, honestly,” Chock said about winning a third title. “This has been such a magical week. We had two incredible skates, I could not be more proud of Evan, and I'm so grateful to our coaching team.
“It's certainly not easy to do this, and to chase your dreams year after year, and we're so grateful and appreciative to everyone who has helped us along this journey and made this possible for us. This is a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Gilles/Poirier put out a sophisticated Tango-themed dance to “Air on the G-String” and “Tango on the G-String”, highlighted by their smooth step sequences, lifts and dance spin.
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (CAN) skated to a second-straight silver medal at the ISU World Championships © ISU
The 2025 ISU Four Continents Champions picked up 130.10 points for their Free Dance and totaled 216.54 points for their second consecutive ISU World silver medal.
“I think we're really proud of what we accomplished this week,” Poirier said. “Both of our programs felt really strong and we really feel as we get to the culmination of the season that the programs have grown into the programs that we dreamed they would be at the start of the season, and so I think that's a really satisfying feeling.
“I think we are a little bit disappointed to not have won here — that was the objective that we set for ourselves — but I think at the same time we can be very proud of the way that we handled this season.”
After finishing fourth twice in a row at the ISU World Championships, Fear/Gibson finally landed on the podium with a Beyoncé medley the Boston crowd loved. They ranked sixth in the Free Dance on 123.25 points, but held on to bronze at 207.11 points.
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR) made the podium Saturday after two consecutive fourth-place finishes at the ISU World Championships © ISU
“I cried non-stop,” Fear said. “I can’t even describe my feelings, I’m still shaking. It’s a dream come true, and I’m kind of in disbelief. I’m so grateful for the results. We're over the moon. I'm really proud of this week and the whole scene that's led up to this moment. And it's just something we'll all cherish forever.
“The performance was so satisfying. Having the crowd involvement in the choreo step was just electric and so much fun.”
The British duo has come a long way since teaming up in 2016, the same year the ISU World Championships last took place in Boston.
“I stood there on the podium and looked up and just thought, we actually did this,” Gibson said. “We're on this world podium and that's crazy. When we started together like nine years ago we didn't even do anything. It really didn't feel possible at all. So that was huge.”
Two-time ISU World medalists Charlène Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) turned in an excellent performance of their “Robot Dance”, but were edged off the podium by less than a point (206.46 points).
European Champions Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) finished off the World podium for the first time since 2022 © ISU
Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) pulled up to fifth place with a passionate “Carmen” Free Dance. Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck (ESP) impressed again with their “Dune” Free Dance, which was third best of the day, and moved up to sixth from eighth place on 200.92 points.
Road to Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games
The 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Boston will serve as the primary qualification event for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. The first quota places will be allocated during the World Championships in Boston and the remaining ones at the Olympic Qualifying competition in Beijing (CHN) from September 17-21, 2025 (read more here).
What and when
The schedule of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 is as follows:
Wednesday, March 26: Women’s & Pairs Short Programs
Thursday, March 27: Men’s Short Program & Pairs Free Skating
Friday, March, 28: Rhythm Dance & Women’s Free Skating
Saturday, March 29: Free Dance & Men’s Free Skating
Sunday, March 30: Exhibition Gala & ISU Figure Skating Awards
A total of 190 Skaters representing 42 countries have been entered for the Championships: 39 Men, 33 Women, 23 Pairs and 36 Ice Dance couples. Boston hosts the ISU World Championships for the second time after 2016 and this the 14th time that the USA are hosting the event.
For more information, full entry lists and results, visit the ISU event page of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025 and the official event website of the Championships. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldFigure and #FigureSkating.
Where to watch the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025:
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships will be live streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. Geo-restrictions will apply in markets where TV rights are in place. You will find the full list in the Where to Watch news.
Subscribe to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive alerts when the live streams start and when new videos are posted.
