Evan Bates

Evan Bates (born February 23, 1989) is an American ice dancer. With his wife and skating partner, Madison Chock, he is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the team event (2022, 2026), the 2026 Winter Olympics silver medalist, a three-time World champion (2023, 2024 and 2025), three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26), a three-time Four Continents champion (2019, 2020, 2023), a twenty-two-time ISU Grand Prix medalist (nine golds, eleven silvers, two bronzes), ten-time ISU Challenger Series medalist (four golds, five silver, one bronze), and a seven-time U.S. national champion (2015, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026). The two represented the United States at the 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026 Winter Olympics. He served as flag bearer for the United States during the closing ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

With former partner Emily Samuelson, Bates is the 2009 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2008 World Junior champion, and the 2009 U.S. national silver medalist. They competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Early life Evan Bates was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In January 2024, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Valieva, and the gold medal was awarded to the U.S. team. In the dance event days later, Chock stumbled midway through the performance, and they finished fourth in the segment. Bates admitted to having "mixed feelings" about the performance," but said, "it's not over yet." “It’s going to be a lot more what it has been,” Chock said of the team's approach to training in the short weeks before the Olympic Games. “We know what to do. We have our plan, and we’re executing it, and we don’t plan on deviating from it. We’re going to stick to it, trust ourselves, trust our team, and do what we know how to do, which is prepare and execute.” The following day, they earned another season's best (133.23) for their Free Dance in Day 2 of the 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event. "I think it's a progression," said Bates of their season's best score. "Each time we step out, we are competing with ourselves. It's very cliché, but it is our mindset, it is our approach, and it's how we have stayed focused, and it's how we’ve been training."

Four days later, Chock and Bates took the silver medal in the 2026 Winter Olympics Ice Dance event after placing a close second in both segments, only 1.34 points behind gold medalists, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. "It's definitely a bittersweet feeling at the moment," said Chock. "We really gave it our all, and I wouldn't change anything about how we approached each performance, what we delivered in each performance. I'm really proud of how we've handled ourselves and what we've accomplished here." "We just performed four times in six days at the Olympics," added Bates. "We've never done anything like it, and it took so much mental strength and discipline to stay focused over the last six days and to deliver four great performances. At the end of the fourth one, the emotions just came flooding out because it’s just a lot."

In response to the backlash, an ISU spokesperson said, "It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations. The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness."

Several figure skaters expressed their belief that Chock and Bates should have won the Olympic gold including Emilea Zingas, Vadym Kolesnik, Charlène Guignard, Marco Fabbri, Christina Carreira, Anthony Ponomarenko, Amber Glenn, Ellie Kam, Nathan Chen, and Evan Lysacek.

USA Today sports columnist, Christine Brennan, referred to Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron's win as "an awful message [...] to sexual abuse survivors and victims, and parents who want their children to participate in a safe sport," citing that the reason the French ice dance team was formed was because of the investigation and subsequent suspension of Fournier Beaudry's former ice dance partner and boyfriend, Nikolaj Sørensen, for allegedly sexually assaulting another figure skater. Despite this, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron have consistently and publicly supported Sørensen with him even attending the Olympic ice dance event to support the team.

Bates, along with hockey player Hilary Knight, was selected as flag bearers for the United States during the Olympic closing ceremony.

Show skating Chock and Bates have participated in shows such as Stars on Ice Japan (2022–2026), Stars On Ice U.S. Tour (2016–2017, 2022–2023, 2025–2026), Stars on Ice Canada (2023), and THE ICE in Japan (2022–2024). Madison Chock and Evan Bates participated in the tribute show "Legacy on Ice" on March 2, 2025, benefitting victims of the Potomac River mid-air collision. In February 2026, Chock/Bates made their first appearance on the show Art on Ice.

Public life

Sponsorships, endorsements and partnerships Heading into the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, Chock and Bates partnered with Nulo Pet Food, Coca-Cola, Ralph Lauren, Topps, and Honda.

Honors and awards ISU Skating Awards 2020: Best Costume ISU Skating Awards 2023: Best Costume Four-time winners of the Edi Award from the Professional Skaters Association for outstanding ice dance performance at US Nationals ISU Skating Awards 2025: Skaters of the Year

World record scores +Combined total records Date Score Segment Event April 13, 2023 93.91 Rhythm dance 2023 ISU World Team Trophy April 14, 2023 138.41 Free dance 232.32 Combined total

Programs

Ice dance with Madison Chock

Season Short dance Free dance Exhibition 2011–2012 2013–2014 2026 Glitter & Gold: Ice Dancing Himself