USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates convincingly defended their title in Ice Dance at the 2024-25 Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, on Saturday. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy won the silver, while Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson captured the bronze—the first medal of any color for their country in this event.
The two-time World Champions delivered a very good rhythm dance, displaying connection, musicality and lots of energy. The twizzles and lift were graded a level four, while the midline and pattern steps were graded a level three. They picked up many high grades of execution (GOE) along the way, earning a season’s best of 87.73 to take the lead going into the free dance.
“The skate today felt really good,” said Chock. “We could really engage well with the crowd.”
“We did a few changes since NHK Trophy,” Bates offered. “We think this was received well by the audience and the judges and led to the season’s best.”
The five-time national champions delivered a meticulous and fluid free dance to “Take Five” with numerous high GOEs throughout. All three lifts, twizzles, and dance spin were graded a level four while the one-foot and diagonal steps were awarded a level three. Their difficult routine was rewarded with season’s best of 132.12, and they maintained first overall (219.85) with 13 points to spare.
“Each time feels like the best time,” said Chock of winning the title again. “Every time we’re in it. We’re so happy to be here!
“It feels amazing,” added Bates. “The face-lift with the boards and the whole event is really top-notch. We just absolutely love skating here. We feel appreciation and love skating so much and sharing that love with the public who also loves skating.”
The team, who announced their partnership on July 1, 2011, admitted that they never expected their career to last as long as it has.
“It’s incredible to hear those kinds of stats,” said Chock when their many achievements were mentioned. “We’ve just been passionate about skating, dancing with one another throughout the years. As long as we’re healthy and we’re still motivated and we still have the passion, we want to continue.”
“We’re aging like a fine wine!” she added, regarding being the oldest Grand Prix Final champions. “It’s truly an honor to have the longevity that we’ve had and be healthy and passionate about skating. It’s a testament to sports and sport science that we are able to continue. It’s a great evolution for sport and hopefully this can break down barriers for people who want to continue. I know Deanna Stellato-Dudek (at age 41) has also broken barriers and so, as long as you’re passionate and healthy, you can achieve any goal you set your mind to.”
The 2024 World bronze medalists appeared reenergized in motivated in their rhythm dance, placing second with 83.12 points. The twizzles and lift were received a level four while the midline steps were a level three. However, they lost a level on the pattern steps which were a level two.
The team felt good about their performance, particularly after their second-place finish a few weeks ago in France.
“We came here to recover from France, not aim for a super high score,” said Fabbri. “It really isn’t the best season for us yet. Overcoming such a bad performance is not so easy. During our career, we didn’t have many ups and downs, so we weren’t used to such a situation. It takes time to recover from something like that and we didn’t have much time to rest since China.”
Displaying good presentation and unison throughout, the two-time European champions placed third (122.99) in the free dance with their robot routine. Fabbri only received a level three for his twizzles, but the lifts and spin all garnered a level four. The one-foot and circular steps were a level two, and the team chalked up positive GOEs throughout. With a total score of 206.11, they were able to maintain second place overall.
“We are satisfied with our second place,” said Fabbri. “We are happy about the result, not fully about the performance, but that’s ok.”
“Now we are tired,” said Guignard. “Very tired, more than yesterday. We competed later today. Today was a little bit hard, but we skated well. We don’t know why we had less points on our choreo step sequence.”
The team said the first half of the season was both mentally and physically tough, especially regarding the free dance.
“We had a really bad performance in France, and we are happy now that the first part of the season is over,” said Fabbri. “We need some time to rest mentally and physically and to work not just on quantity, but also on quality. We’re still not in perfect condition. Tonight was not a perfect performance, but much better than in Angers.”
Fear had a slight break in a twizzle which resulted in a level two for her (four for him), but that was the only mistake in an otherwise solid rhythm dance. The two-time European silver medalists executed a level-four lift and level three midline steps to score 82.31 for third place.
“It was electric!” said Fear. “We felt that, even in practice with the crowd, and then it was another level out there tonight. Such a joy to perform to such an encouraging crowd.”
“It was really fun to skate in the second group for the first time at the Grand Prix Final,” added Gibson. “But we got used already to skating last at both of our Grand Prixes. Here, it was different again as there were only three couples.”
Fear explained that she was trying to add a fun position in the twizzles, which lost two levels.
“I don’t recommend doing that at home,” she said. “But I was really proud of my recovery. I got straight back into it.”
The eight-time grand prix medalists placed fourth (122.87) with their inspiring free dance to music by Beyoncé. The serpentine steps were graded a level two, while the one-foot steps were a level three. They displayed level four twizzles and lifts throughout, and with a total score of 205.18, maintained third overall.
“We had an absolute blast out there!” said Fear. “I think you could see by our expression at the end that we were really happy. We gave so much energy out there. We wanted to connect to the crowd and entertain. We got a lot of crowd engagement and executed in the way that we are proud of and created a really special moment for us.”
“I think we skated our best here than any Grand Prix Final,” she added, “definitely more so than last year. Also, this is the first time doing a big competition like this in France other than the Montpellier (2022 Worlds). Or the first time in a while. We love the audience. We love being here! Everyone is so enthusiastic, and it has been a wonderful week.”
“It’s a huge achievement,” said Gibson of their silver medal. “It’s one of those things that are in a next level to reach, and we are so pleased.”
Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha were crisp and sharp in their “Austin Powers” rhythm dance—a partial throw-back from their 2013-14 free dance. Their routine was highlighted by level-four twizzles and rotational lift, and they placed fourth with 77.73 points.
“We feel really happy, it felt great today,” said Lagha. “I was very stressed today during the warm-up and I am so happy how we pushed through. The scores are whatever.”
“At Skate Canada we didn’t have a good skate but a good score,” Lajoie pointed out. “Today, we felt really good and are happy with the skate. The scores are not what we wanted, but that’s not that important.”
The 2023 Four Continents bronze medalists put out a powerful and moving free dance to “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed and “Murky Solitude” by Karl Hugo. All elements, including the level-four twizzles, lifts and spin, received positive GOES, and they placed fifth in the free dance and overall (122.11/199.84).
“We didn’t expect any result, we just wanted for us to skate well both the programs,” said Lajoie. “We are happy when we skate clean, and the results come after.”
When asked about their favorite program, Lagha said it “Nureyev” from The White Crow, their free skate from two years ago.
“But actually, we never like programs we skate to right now,” he explained. “We start to appreciate them much later. So maybe this program will become our favorite in a few years. This program definitely differs from previous ones and it’s so much fun to perform it. ”
Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier showed commitment and creativity in their “Barbie and Ken” rhythm dance as, once again, they sported new colorful costumes. They were off to a good start, executing level-three midline steps and level-four twizzles, but then Poirer went down after catching is back outside edge on the board during the pattern steps. The fall was very costly, and they found themselves in sixth place (72.15) heading into the free dance.
“I got too close to the board,” Poirier explained. “It never happened, yet this, it showed us for the future to be careful at this moment of the program.”
“Falling in an important element like that is just a big mistake that you can’t make, but these hick-ups happen,” said Gilles. “We want to skate a clean program tomorrow. I don’t think it will affect us. The rest of the performance was solid, and we put a lot of energy in the performance.”
The three-time World medalists hit every note with articulation in their dreamy free dance to “Whiter Shade of Pale.” The level-four twizzles had very good ice coverage and earned many positive GOEs, as did the quality level four lifts and spin. They placed second in the free dance (127.12), but the total score (199.27) put them in fifth place overall.
France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud gave a clean performance with their “Rasputin” rhythm dance, placing fifth with 76.98 points. Both the twizzles and lift were graded a level four, while the midline steps were a three and two.
“It was super stressful, skating at home in front of everyone,” Brissaud confessed. “But luckily when we stepped on the ice, it was much better.”
“We are at home, we are not aiming for the podium,” added Lopareva. “I just want to enjoy, and I am proud of our performance today.”
The two-time national champions showed command in their creative and intense free dance to music by BFRND. They displayed level-four twizzles, lifts and spin throughout, and placed sixth overall (118.93/195.91).
“Today was a bit difficult physically, but of course our public, the French public, their support is unreal,” said Lopareva. “They gave us the energy and we finished with emotions. We are pretty much satisfied.”
“It was amazing!” agreed Brissaud. “Even when you first start the element, they clap. It’s great!”
“I think we started at the end of the past season,” he added of their improvement since the beginning of the season. “We felt much more confident and much more connection. It starts to grow, and we feel it. The score goes up.”
The team said they will continue to improve, particularly on the steps as they prepare for French Nationals.
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