Three-time ISU World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) reigned supreme on home ice to claim their ninth ISU Grand Prix gold medal at Saatva Skate America and to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final Sunday in Lake Placid, NY (USA).

Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) claim fifth Skate America title

Canadians Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha earned the silver medal, while Evgenia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud of France took the bronze as the Ice Dance event concluded with a beautiful Free Dance competition. 

Chock & Bates put out a fascinating Flamenco, full of character and charisma. The Cup of China Champions earned a level four for their lifts, twizzles and the dance spin to achieve a season's best of 127.81 points. Overall, they accumulated 212.58 points.

“It's so special for us every time we get to compete on home ice, and Skate America is a very near and dear competition to our hearts,” Chock commented. “We've been doing it for many years, and I've always admired it in my entire career. It's an honor to compete here in Lake Placid, especially in this historic venue that's been beautifully remodeled. We really enjoyed our whole week here in Lake Placid.”

Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) overcame the challenge of a long skirt to finish first at Skate America © ISU

The couple skillfully incorporated her long skirt into the performance. “We worked a lot with Marie-France (Dubreuil) and Antonio Najarro on this program to just bring out all the details and the nuances in the choreography,” Chock explained. 

“I have a practice skirt that I wear in training at home, so I was able to get used to all the movements and implement the choreography seamlessly, so when we get to competition it's just like breathing and using the skirt. And that was really fun too, to incorporate that kind of like prop. It's part of my outfit, but it feels like another addition to dance. You have hairography, you have skirtography now, and it's really fun to have this side of movement and use it to do a lot of storytelling.”

Bates agreed: “It becomes really second nature and now we've kind of figured out all the little parts of the program where we might need to do a little negotiating with the skirt, but I think overall it adds so much to the program. Just in the last two weeks, I feel like we really took a big step forward from Cup of China. It's really exciting to think about where this program could be by February.”

Chock & Bates qualified for their ninth ISU Grand Final with their two victories in Chongqing and Lake Placid. 

Lajoia & Lagha impressed with their elegant and balletic dance to “Nureyev” from “The White Crow”, showing off intricate steps and beautiful lines. The 2025 Skate Canada bronze medalists set a season's best of 119.74 for the Free Dance, which added up to 197.16 points. 

“We're very proud and happy with our skate and the result,” Lajoie noted. “It means a lot for us to finish second here. We worked really hard in between Skate Canada and Skate America. We only had a week and a half and I think we did a pretty good job.”

Despite missing out on the gold, Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN) were proud of their performance at Skate America © ISU

Lajoie & Lagha got 24 points from their two ISU Grand Prix events and will have to wait and see what happens next week if they get into the ISU Grand Prix Final. 

Lopareva & Brissaud brought the beauty of Island to Lake Placid with their dance to songs by Björk. The ISU European silver medalists scored 115.89 points and, with a total of 192.61 points, remained in third place to take their second Grand Prix bronze medal this season. 

“I feel like our couple is known as a kind of weird one because we are often told that by everyone,” Lopareva said. “Every time when we search for ideas for the programs, we try to find something unique that can uplift our uniqueness, we will call it like that. We're trying to do something that will be in our way and that we don't repeat ourselves. So this season we went with Björk. She herself is a very specific person, a very specific artist.”

Evgenia Lopareva & Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) enjoyed bringing another unique dance display to Lake Placid © ISU

Loicia Demougeot & Theo Le Mercier (FRA) finished fourth with another nice performance to “The Curse of the Sad Mummy” (186.69 points). Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) came fifth with their program to “Notre Dame de Paris” (186.03 points), while Oona Brown & Gage Brown moved up from seventh to sixth with their “Godfather” routine (182.11 points).

The schedule of the ISU Grand Prix Saatva Skate America is as follows:

Friday, November 14: Pairs & Men’s Short Programs
Saturday, November 15: Rhythm Dance, Pairs Free Skating, Women’s Short Program, Men’s Free Skating
Sunday, November 16: Free Dance, Women’s Free Skating

ISU Grand Prix Standings

Check out who is on their way to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final:

Men                 Women        Pairs       Ice Dance

For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.

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The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event are available below:

• 17 - 19 Oct 2025                       Grand Prix de France in Angers (FRA)
• 24 - 26 Oct 2025                       Cup of China in Chongqing (CHN)
• 31 Oct-2 Nov 2025                   Skate Canada International in Saskatoon (CAN)
• 07 - 9 Nov 2025                        NHK Trophy in Osaka (JPN)
• 14- 16 Nov 2025                       Skate America in Lake Placid (USA)  
• 21 - 23 Nov 2025                      Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki (FIN) 
  
  The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final: 
  04 - 07 Dec 2025                        Nagoya (JPN)