The ice dance competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics may be over, but many fans can’t stop talking about Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ performance—and France’s controversial win. The judges’ scores left the American duo just 1.43 points shy of gold, sparking conversations about the judging system.
Asked by CBS News if there should be any changes in ice dance judging moving forward, Chock said it would “definitely be helpful if it’s more understandable for the viewers, to just see more transparent judging and understand what’s really going on. I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance,” she continued. “Because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”
The Americans entered the free dance as favorites on Wednesday, despite trailing France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by 0.46 points after the rhythm dance portion on Monday. Chock and Bates posted a world-best score in the rhythm dance, earning 89.72 points. However, the French pair edged them out with a score of 90.18.
For their free dance, Chock and Bates performed to “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi show *Westworld*, earning a strong score of 134.67. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron then skated to the soundtrack from *The Whale* and scored 135.64, narrowly surpassing the American couple by less than a point.
During the free dance, however, Cizeron made a mistake on an element called a twizzle—a one-footed moving spin. Many viewers and experts perceived the French pair’s performance as less clean compared to Chock and Bates’. In the end, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s total of 225.82 points edged out the Americans’ 224.39. Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took bronze with 217.74 points.
In ice dancing, every element has a base value, representing its typical point worth, plus a grade of execution (GOE) that scores teams positively or negatively depending on performance quality. The French team was not marked down for the twizzle mistake, and other moments that appeared messy were not heavily penalized either. Their scores also outpaced Chock and Bates in artistic presentation and music interpretation.
Adding to the controversy was the subjective nature of the scoring. The French judge scored the Americans more than seven points lower than the French duo—a significant margin in ice dance. Five of the nine judges favored the Americans in their scoring, while the other three only slightly scored the French team higher.
“It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment,” Chock said after the competition. “We have had the most incredible year—15 years on the ice together; first Olympics as a married couple. And we delivered four of our best performances this week. I think we’re really proud of how we handled ourselves here and what we accomplished.”
Bates described their performance on Thursday as their “absolute best performance.” He added that they hadn’t studied the scores, noting, “Our performance felt like a winning skate to us, and that’s what we’re going to hold on to,” The Associated Press reported.
The couple is still discussing their future plans. The 2026 World Figure Skating Championships are scheduled for next month in Prague, where the Americans will compete as reigning world champions.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron have been skating together for less than a year. Cizeron previously won gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics with then-partner Gabriella Papadakis, who retired in 2024. Papadakis has since accused Cizeron of abusive behavior, describing him as “controlling” and “demanding,” according to CBS News partner BBC News. Cizeron has denied these allegations, calling them a “smear campaign.”
Fournier Beaudry was born in Montreal and has mostly represented Canada throughout her career but obtained French citizenship in November. She asked Cizeron to team up after her former partner, Nikolaj Sørensen, was suspended by Skate Canada following a sexual assault accusation by an American skater. Sørensen’s suspension was overturned in June on jurisdictional grounds, but the case remains pending. Fournier Beaudry has maintained Sørensen’s innocence and publicly supported him as recently as earlier this month.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/madison-chock-evan-bates-ice-dance-judges-winter-olympics-2026/