French ice dancers Beaudry and Cizeron edge US favorites Chock and Bates in rhythm dance at Olympics

MILAN (AP) — Madison Chock and Evan Bates have ground to make up in their pursuit of ice dance gold at the Milano Cortina Olympics.

The three-time world champions made the slightest mistake on their pattern step as the final couple on the ice Monday night, and it left them trailing Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by the slimmest of margins going into the free dance.

The new French couple scored 90.18 points early in the night, hours before Chock and Bates performed at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. The score held up the rest of the way with the Americans, fresh off helping to defend their team gold medal 24 hours earlier, earning 89.72 points for their Lenny Kravitz-inspired rock-and-roll rhythm dance.

Chock and Bates had scored a world-leading 91.06 points for the same program during the team competition.

“The game is always on. You should know us by now,” Chock said afterward, flashing a grin. “We're not changing anything. We've got this locked in, locked in where we know ourselves, know our routine. And yeah, we've got this."

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada were third with 86.18 points in a tight race for the podium ahead of the free dance Wednesday night. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were fourth as they try to give Britain its first figure skating medal since 1994.

The future of U.S. ice dancing, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, were in fifth with 83.53 points after a brilliant performance amid an emotional week. Kolesnik recently became an American citizen but is originally from Ukraine, and he was able to see two extended family members for the first time in four years — since the Russian invasion — when they flew into Milan on Saturday.

“I know it's the Olympic stage, and for many people this is the moment of their lives,” Kolesnik said. “I just thought of it as a test challenge for our next eight years, because this is just the beginning for us. We're going to reach higher places.”

Beaudry and Cizeron arrived at the Winter Games last week facing controversy linked to their former partners.

Beaudry, who previously skated for Canada, was left in professional limbo when Skate Canada banned Nikolaj Sorensen for a minimum of six years after allegations of “sexual maltreatment.” The suspension was overturned in June on jurisdictional grounds, but the case is still pending, and the uncertainty of it all left Beaudry in search of a new partner.

She found one in Cizeron, who had retired after 2022, when he won the Olympic gold medal with Gabriella Papadakis.

But in the last few weeks, Cizeron also has come under scrutiny. It stems from Papadakis' new memoir, “So As Not To Disappear,” in which she accused her longtime partner of being demanding, controlling and emotionally manipulative.

Cizeron has called the allegations false, accusing Papadakis of engineering a “smear campaign.”

“We're really creating a bubble between the two of us and our coaches,” Beaudry said, when asked about the potential distractions, “so when we are out there, it's about the moment we spend together, and the memories that we'll bring back from that moment.”

Beaudry and Cizeron certainly made some memories in their rhythm dance.

While their twizzles were still not perfect, the entirety of their program was far superior to their performance in the team competition on Friday. And when their 90-plus score was announced, Beaudry sat for a second in stunned silence in the kiss-and-cry.

“We really tried to skate as best as we could,” Cizeron said. "We had a great time and we’ll try to do the same for the free dance.”

They will have to hold off Chock and Bates, whose free dance is arguably the best in the world.

The Americans have spent the past four years targeting individual gold at the Olympics, ever since finishing just off the podium in fourth place at the Beijing Games. Chock and Bates have been nearly unbeatable, too, losing four times over that entire span, while capturing three consecutive world titles and dominating the Grand Prix Final.

If it wasn't for getting leveled down on their pattern step Monday night, they would be the ones in the lead heading into the free skate.

“It's really hard to analyze the performance so in depth," Chock said. “We're just going to bring the feeling we had at the end forward, and our coaches will figure that out when the time comes. But we're really happy with how we performed.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics