The Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world championships in nearly three decades on Saturday evening, and the Americans clung to first place with their free jazzy skating after a strong performance by Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
Chock and Bates finished with 222.06 points, while Gilles and Poirier won the silver medal for the second consecutive year with 216.54. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson landed on the third podium, winning the first world medal in Great Britain since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean finished their race with four consecutive glacial dance titles in 1984.
Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov were the last to win three in a row, triumphant four consecutive times for Russia from 1994 to 1997.
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“Coming here, we did not think of a defense of three peat or a type of title. It was an autonomous event,” said Bates. “We were as prepared as possible, and we patinated as well as we could have.”
Americans and Canadians have dominated ice dance in recent years, winning six of the nine medals awarded in the past three years.
The rivalry between the Chock and Bates and Gilles and Poirier teams has become one of the most intense in recent years, and this year had the additional spice of geopolitical tension between their respective countries.
The silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada, the gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States and the bronze medalists Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain pose for a photo after the medal in Boston March 29, 2025. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
The United States and Canada are engaged in an unprecedented trade war after President Donald Trump imposed a series of prices against Canada, which prompted the reprisals in response.
The tension of the current trade war has spread in sport.
Sports tension was exhibited for the first time during the NNH 4 Nations confrontation tournament from February 12 to 20. Canada fans have hooked US national anthem while fans of the United States have hooked Canadian national anthem before several games.
It started on February 13, when Montreal Canadian fans hoked the US national anthem after Trump’s threats to impose prices in Canada and suggest that the country should become the 51st American state.
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The hoots caused fights between Canadian and Americans during the first meeting of the tournament between the two teams on February 15. The United States has won this 3-1 match.
The Canadian national anthem was then hué at TD Garden in Boston before a match of the 4 nations between Canada and Finland.
The United States and Canada then met in the final on February 20, and Boston’s American fans hooked the Canadian national anthem again, although with a lighter tone. Canada won the game on overtime, 3-2.
Since then, the hostile rhetoric between the two countries, including in sport, has only increased. NHL games involving teams based in Canada and the United States have often presented Hue during the pre-match National hymns of the visiting team.
Fans of WWE elimination room In Toronto, Hue “The Star Spangled Banner” before the event. Star Sports commentator Pat McAfee has loudly castigated Canadian fans for huae and the country as a whole in response when disseminating peacocks.
“It sucks in a way that it was in the terrible country of Canada which hoked our national anthem to start all this,” McAfee shouted at the diffusion table.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the United States occur at the ISU’s World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston on March 28, 2025. (Jurij Kodrun / International Skating Union / International Syndicate via Getty Images)
McAfee has since said he had received death threats Against her little daughter for comments.
Canadian male football coach Jesse Marsch castigated Trump for his “51st state” remarks, calling them “insulting”. During the media day of the Concacaf Nations League, Marsch said that it was “ashamed” in the way Canada had been insulted by the president.
“If I have a message to our president, he is dismissed from ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state,” said Marsch. “As an American, I am ashamed of the arrogance and contempt that we have shown one of our oldest, strongest and most faithful allies.
NHL legend Wayne Gretzky was also criticized by his Canadian colleagues for his apparent support for Trump, who recently declared that he had asked Gretzky to become the next “Governor of Canada” after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would resign.
After Gretzky expressed support for “Canada remaining a separate country, rather than becoming a 51st darling and magnificent state”, ” Trump told Gretzky a “free agent”.
The gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States celebrate after winning the World Dance Championship in Ice Dance at the ISU 2025 World Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston on March 29, 2025. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Now, the United States has won a victory in the increased sports rivalry graceful of Bates and Chock, but the issues will be higher to Jean Cortina Olympics next year.
Chock and Bates were part of the American team who won the Golden Team at 2022 matches in Beijing after a prolonged investigation into Russian doping. But, despite all their success, Chock and Bates have never held on an Olympic ice dance podium, ending in fourth place three years ago.
“I think the Olympic season certainly has a different weight from other three years,” said Chock. “You have this incredible opportunity to reach the whole world, and it makes it really special because it amplifies our voices on and out of the ice.”
