Ice dancers Chock, Bates win Skate America
Madison Chock and Evan Bates used their win at Skate America last year as a springboard to their first world championship.
Perhaps their victory Sunday will be a springboard to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
The American ice dancers, who have yet to commit to continuing their careers all the way to the next Winter Games in Italy, proved they nevertheless remain among the best in the world. Chock and Bates scored 212.96 points at the opening event of the Grand Prix season, easily winning their fourth Skate America title at in Allen, Texas.
Their score was more than 10 points ahead of their total last season, and given the way scores tend to climb through the season as programs get refined, there is a good chance Chock and Bates could break their own world record at some point.
“Skate America is a very special Grand Prix for us, mainly because it's a chance to skate in front of a home audience which is very special and fun,” Chock said after their free skate, set to music from Pink Floyd's “The Dark Side of the Moon.”
“Our parents are in the audience,” she added. “It's great to be able to look out and see them.”
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha, the Canadian silver medalists, finished second with 196.99 points for their best finish at a Grand Prix event.
French national champions Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud finished third with 193.47 points.
In the women's competition, Loena Hendrickx of Belgium breezed through a remix of “Break My Soul” by Beyoncé and finished with 221.28 points to hold off U.S. star Isabeau Levito, who rallied from an uneven short program to take the silver medal. Nina Petrokina became the first skater from Estonia to medal on the senior Grand Prix circuit with her bronze.
Amber Glenn, who was second after her short program, became the sixth American woman to land a triple axel in competition on her opening jump. But utterly exhausted by the end, Glenn fell on her final three jumps and finished out of the medals.
The victory by Chock and Bates made it 19 of the past 21 years that a U.S. team took home the Skate America title.
It also raised the question sure to follow Chock and Bates well into the future: After helping the U.S. win a team medal at the Beijing Olympics, but just missing the podium themselves in the ice dance competition, will Chock, 31, and the Bates, 34, have the desire to continue competing through the next Winter Olympics?
“It's on the horizon but we're not getting ahead of ourselves,” said Bates, who along with Chock have yet to receive those team medals because of the slow-moving investigation into doping that involved one of the Russian skaters in Beijing.
“We're taking it year by year,” he said, “but the ultimate goal is to be back at to the Olympic Games.”
Chiles leads U.S. gymasts to sixth straight gold medal
U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles has dreamed about being a flagbearer at a major sports event since she saw her friend Simone Biles do it at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics closing ceremony. The 22-yearold managed to get her wish at the opening of the Pan American Games in Santiago on Friday.
On Sunday, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics made another dream come true; to lead the U.S. women's gymnastics team into a continental final and then to a gold medal.
The U.S. topped the all-round women's competition with 165.196 points, with a big push from Chiles to give the Americans their sixth straight women's team Pan American gold medal.
The main rival for Chiles, Kayla DiCello, Zoe Miller, Kaliya Lincoln and Tiana Sumanasekera was Brazil's team led by Rebeca Andrade, an Olympic gold medalist and also a friend of Biles.
The Brazilians scored 161.564 points. Andrade sat out the floor exercise to spare her knees and to clear mistakes made by other athletes in the uneven bars.
Canada finished with the bronze medal with a distant 154.230 points.
Chiles topped the all-round chart with 54.666 points, 0.101 ahead of 2021 world all-around bronze medalist DiCello.
The 22-year-old American is competing in Chile as she weighs competing in the Paris Olympics or returning for her junior year at UCLA.
Possibly the biggest star competing in Chile, the 24-year-old Andrade is Brazil's most decorated gymnast in history and is competing at the Pan American
Games for the first time. She will be Chiles' rival again today in individual finals.
Monfils wins Nordic Open
Gael Monfils won his 12th ATP Tour title — and his first in almost two years — by beating qualifier Pavel Kotov in three sets in the Nordic Open final in Stockholm. Monfils rallied to triumph 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 and claim a second title at the event, which he also won in 2011.
At 37, the French player was the oldest finalist in the tournament's history.
• Third-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan won his third career title by beating French teenager Arthur Fils 6-4, 6-4 in the European Open final in Antwerp, Belgium.
• Ben Shelton won his maiden tour title, beating Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1 at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
The 21-year-old American, who made his first tour semifinal appearance at the U.S. Open last month, continued his recent form in Tokyo, making 18 winners and dominating his Russian opponent with his swinging lefty serve as he closed out the final in 84 minutes.
“That meant a lot to me and my team,” Shelton said. “We have been working really hard since the beginning to build my game and win titles on the ATP tour. I made some deep runs lately. You see the great champions, they finish weeks off.
“They win titles, they don't just get to finals. They are able to maintain their level throughout the week. I am not saying I am anywhere there yet, but to be able to do it for one week, put together five matches in a row in Tokyo is really special.”
Shelton will rise to a careerhigh No. 15 in the ATP's rankings today, having started the season at No. 96.
• Katerina Siniakova saved three match points to set up a stunning comeback to beat fellow Czech Marie Bouzkova 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) and win the Jiangxi Open in China. It's the fifth career title for Siniakova and second of the season, after winning in Hamburg in July.
Gotham advances to NWSL semifinals, beating Courage
Delanie Sheehan and Yazmeen Ryan both scored to give visiting Gotham a 2-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage in the opening round of the National Women's Soccer League playoffs.
Gotham will head to Portland, Ore., to take on the Thorns in a semifinal match on Nov. 5.
Grizzlies' Adams out for season with knee injury
Grizzlies center Steven Adams needs season-ending knee surgery. Adams will have surgery on his right posterior cruciate ligament. Other nonsurgical rehabilitation didn't resolve the ongoing instability of his knee, the Grizzlies said.