Michigan Alum Bates Qualifies for Historic Fourth Olympics in Ice Dancing
1/13/2022 9:00:00 AM | Olympics
By Molly Oppenheim
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- University of Michigan alumnus Evan Bates has earned a spot in the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after securing his third ice dancing national title in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last Saturday (Jan. 8). Bates has now qualified for the Olympics for a fourth time in his career, making him the first U.S. figure skater to do so.
Bates and his longtime partner, Madison Chock, clinched their third ice dancing national championship together after previously earning titles in 2020 and 2015. With only 1.78 points separating the first- and second-place pairs, Bates and Chock defeated reigning champions, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue. The pairs have been closely competing for more than decade, with Bates and Chock training out of the Ann Arbor Skating Club and Hubbell and Donohue training at the Lansing Skating Club. In the 2021 competition, Bates and Chock fell to Hubbell and Donohue by just 1.63 points.
After the opening free-dance round at the U.S. Figure Skating National Championship, Bates and Chock trailed Hubbell and Donohue with scores of 135.43 to 136.20, respectively. The U-M alum and his partner rallied in the rhythm-dance round with a score of 91.94 to their rivals' 89.39 and finished with a career-best 227.37 total to punch their ticket to the 2022 Olympics.
Bates is no stranger to the Olympic ice dancing stage, having previously performed in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic games. Bates earned an 11th-place finish with his former partner, Emily Samuelson, in his first Olympic appearance. Bates and Chock made their Olympic debut as a pair in 2014 and landed among the top 10 with an eighth-place finish. Bates and Chock remained in the top 10 in 2018, placing ninth after suffering a late fall in the free dance.
Michigan alumni boast a strong track record in ice dancing at the Olympic Games. Most recently, Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani captured the bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the first American ice dancing pair to capture an Olympic gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Games after claiming silver at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
The 2022 Olympic Winter Games will take place Feb. 2-20, in Beijing, China. Opening ceremonies are slated for Friday, Feb. 4, while the ice dancing competition will begin on Saturday, Feb. 5.
