Ice Dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates Dazzle to Put Team USA in First as 2026 Olympic Figure Skating Kicks Off

NEED TO KNOW

• Team USA figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates scored an impressive 91.06 in their first figure skating event
• The event marked the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Games' first figure skating competition
• The Games will officially start with the opening ceremony on Feb. 6

Let the games begin!

Team USA’s figure skaters helped kick off the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on a high note, with Madison Chock and Evan Bates scoring 91.06 in their first figure skating event.

Chock and Bates, who married in 2024, performed their rhythm dance as part of the figure skating team event on Friday, Feb. 6 at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, hours before the Games’ opening ceremony officially set things in motion.

Their impressive score pushed them just ahead of Team France, who notched 89.98 points, and Team Great Britain, who scored 86.85.

The pair danced to a remix of Lenny Kravitz's “American Woman,” “Fly Away,” “Always on the Run” and “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” with elements including sequential twizzles, midline step sequence, pattern dance type step sequence, choreographic rhythm sequence and rotational lift.

The figure skating team event will continue Friday with the pair skating short program and the women's and men's short program, with the U.S. hoping to add to Chock and Bates' score to win gold when the event concludes on Sunday.

Bates, 36, and Chock, 33, recently opened up to PEOPLE about their relationship, which began in 2017 after they were first paired up in 2011. In the years since, they’ve become one of the top duos in U.S. skating, and have consistently placed in the top three at the U.S. Championships every year since 2012.

“Skating was always the main focus, but as we've gotten older, I think the relationship has become the main focus,” Bates said in January. “Skating obviously is still the main focus, but skating is kind of like our means of strengthening ourselves and our relationship and going through all the experiences of life together, and so the appreciation for the partnership has grown.”

Bates also praised his wife's designing skills, as she designs both the couple's skating outfits and looks for other competitors.

"This year, she's designed probably 10 or 12 skating costumes for other skaters who are going to be in the Olympics in addition to doing our own costumes," he said.

Chock explained that heading into the Games, the couple was focused on the "stepping stones" they need to bring home gold.

"There are little things in each performance, and those are the fun things to explore each day and how you can get just a little bit better every session," she said.

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.

Read the original article on People