Madison Chock, Evan Bates win their 5th US figure skating championship

Madison Chock and Evan Bates took home their fifth US figure skating championship despite being sick, NBC Sports reported Monday. 

Between Thursday's rhythm dance and Saturday's free dance in Columbus, Ohio, Chock and Bates, the reigning world champions and unbeaten since the beginning of 2023, racked up 215.92 points.

On Friday, Chock and Bates both began experiencing flu-like symptoms, including a fever. They were on the verge of not participating, but just 30 minutes before their free dance performance, they decided to compete.

They finished with the second-best free dance score behind Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko after Bates lost his balance on their first two twizzles. Even so, they won by an overall margin of 5.88 points, thanks to their lead from the rhythm dance.

"It was thanks to Madi," Bates said in an interview.

"I was really on the fence about whether I wanted to do it today, to be honest, but she’s so tough and so strong. She wasn’t feeling well, either. We just put our willpower together, gutted through it, and thought, You know what? If this is our last national, we want to go out there and perform."

Chock and Bates, both of whom are in their early thirties, have yet to decide whether they’ll be participating in the 2026 Olympic run and have announced that they will adopt a season-by-season approach to competing.

They are getting married in June.

Last year, Chock and Bates won by 22.29 points, the largest margin since ice dance changed from three programmes to two in 2011.