Nine years ago, Madison Chock/Evan Bates won their second World medal right here in Boston at the 2016 World Championships. Who would have thought that in 2025, they would be back at the World Figure Skating Championships in the same arena to try for a third consecutive World title? The dance event has been—at least for ice dance—wildly unpredictable this season. Will we see the same this week in Boston?
Worlds predictions
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GOLD Madison Chock/Evan Bates USA - Their very first program this season at Skate America was the one they wanted to get out of the way. Because with the exception of that fluke mistake on the rhythm dance there, they have gone through much of the season looking very solid. They will be looking to get that third title, but the battle with Gilles/Poirier will be intense.
SILVE Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier CAN - Their win at Four Continents over Chock/Bates means that this battle for gold is going to be close. They were second last year at Worlds at home, with a win in the free dance there. But their season has also been unpredictable in competition, with a couple of major mistakes during the Grand Prix.
BRONZE Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri ITA - Can they fill out the trio that has been on the podium (though in different orders) for the past two years? It’s been perhaps a workhorse of a season for them, trying to figure out their free dance and having to deal with mistakes that have plagued them during the season.
4. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson GBR - Fear/Gibson took bronze at Europeans, which was at least one spot lower than they were hoping for. Worlds has been a strong competition for them the past few seasons. Of all the teams, they will be the ones who know how to feed off the energy of the crowd into the programs the most.
5. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud FRA - A first Grand Prix win and a berth to the Grand Prix Final have catapulted the three-time French champions into a new position among the top teams in the world. At Europeans, they took silver over Fear/Gibson, and another placement like that could get them into a very different conversation going into next season.
6. Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha CAN - Fifth here last year, Lajoie/Lagha had a strong Grand Prix season, but they come in off a mistake in the free dance at Four Continents that kept them lower in score than they would’ve liked. The coompetition is a little different this season here,
7. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko USA - After their breakthrough last season, where they finished seventh here at Worlds, the US silver medalists are ready to do it again, and this time in front of the home crowd. Breaking 200 will likely be necessary to get there, and they’ve been right under that this season.
8. Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis FIN - Their free dance is one of the most well choreographed pieces of the entire season. Their path to the top six at this event is going to be paved by that program, and it will be important for them to put down a great rhythm dance to get there.
9, Olivia Smart/Tim Dieck ESP - Dune has been a breakthrough program for Smart/Dieck, who have had a lot of potential in their first couple of seasons but never really gelled in competition. But whatever the magic has been with this program, the potential is now being fulfilled.
10. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons USA - They were sixth here two years ago, but the road back to the World Championships has not been easy. Top 10 is very much a possibility here but they will have to skate their best of the season and harness the energy from this crowd.
Others to watch for the top 10: Loicia Demougeot/Theo le Mercier, Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius, Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler