Why U.S. Figure Skating Chose Not to Appeal After Madison Chock and Evan Bates Lost Gold

In a sport where margins are often measured in fractions of a point, the ice dance final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games has ignited a firestorm of robbery claims from the American skating community.

Three-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered a breathtaking, nearly flawless performance to “Paint It Black,” but they were forced to settle for silver after being edged out by the newly formed French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.

The controversy centers on a staggering scoring anomaly: despite a visible bobble in the French team’s twizzle sequence, the French judge awarded his compatriots a score nearly eight points higher than the Americans in the free dance. With five of the nine judges actually favoring Chock and Bates, fans and experts alike are questioning whether the gold was decided by technical merit or strategic nationalistic judging.

Here’s what to know about the controversy.

What is the ice dancing controversy?

The 2026 ice dancing controversy centers on the individual gold medal match held on Wednesday, February 11, where American favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates lost to the French pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron in a result many U.S. fans and experts are calling “sabotage.”

While the French team won by a razor-thin margin of 1.43 points, the details of the scorecards have sparked accusations of nationalistic judging. In the free dance, the French judge’s scoring was a massive statistical outlier. If that single score had been more aligned with the rest of the panel, Chock and Bates would likely have secured the gold.

The two had the following to say after.

Did judges sabotage Madison Chock and Evan Bates?

There is no proof that judges sabotaged Chock and Bates, but that hasn’t stopped American fans from speculating.

The silver medal finish on Wednesday night was decided by just 1.43 points, and the scorecard from the French judge in the free dance has become the primary target of frustration.

While five of the nine judges placed the Americans first in the free dance, the French judge’s marks were a massive outlier — favoring his own country’s skaters by nearly eight points. This single score effectively erased the slim lead Chock and Bates had built with the other judges, sparking a wave of online outrage and comparisons to the old guard of nationalistic judging in figure skating.

French skater Guillaume Cizeron had a visible bobble during his twizzle sequence — a high-stakes element where perfection is expected. Fans were stunned when the French team still received high Grades of Execution, while Chock and Bates skated a nearly flawless “Paint It Black” routine and saw their scores remain stagnant.

While the French judge was criticized for an obvious nationalistic bias, the Spanish judge’s scorecards have come under fire for what fans are calling “strategic lowballing” of the Americans. The Spanish judge gave Chock and Bates their lowest scores of the night in the Program Component categories. This was particularly jarring because the Spanish team, Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck, trains at the Ice Academy of Montreal — the same training camp as the gold-winning French team.

In a story by SBNation, it was found that the French judge had a history of questionable scores, noting that she has been overscoring Cizeron and Beaudry for over a year.

This was likely the final Olympic performance for the married American pair. Having won three consecutive World Championships, they were the heavy favorites to complete their trophy case with individual gold.

Will U.S. Figure Skating appeal?

U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell told USA Today on Sunday that it is not appealing the controversial ruling by a French judge that knocked Chock and Bates out of position to win gold.

“There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times emotional, discussion about the ice dance competition in Milan,” Farrell said. “Working together with Madi and Evan after the Games, we will have thoughtful and intentional discussions about the best way to support them and the future of the sport. For now, we plan to join them in supporting the success of U.S. Figure Skating in Milan.”

The window to appeal the decision already passed, and Farrell confirmed no appeal was filed during that window.

International Skating Union statement on French judge

On Friday, Feb. 13, the International Skating Union said in a statement that it stands behind the French judge, Jezabel Dabouis, in his decision to favor Beaudry and Cizeron by nearly eight points in the free skate over Chock and Bates.

“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 said, according to The Associated Press. The ISU also said that it has “full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”

By that point, per The Athletic, there were more than 15,000 people who had signed a petition as asking the ISU and the International Olympic Committee to investigate, alleging “that the scoring lacked transparency, and specific moves which should have attracted penalties were overlooked.”

American fans’ reaction to scoring

The reaction from American fans to the ice dance scoring has been a mixture of heartbreak and intense skepticism. While the silver medal is a career highlight for Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the narrow margin of defeat (1.43 points) has led to a “robbery” narrative across social media and within the arena.

How is ice dancing scored?

Ice dancing is scored using the International Judging System (IJS), which divides a performance into two primary numerical categories: the Technical Element Score (TES) and the Program Component Score (PCS).

The Technical Panel identifies each element, such as twizzles or lifts, and assigns it a Base Value based on its level of difficulty from one to four. The Judging Panel then awards a Grade of Execution (GOE) for each element, ranging from -5 to +5, to reflect how well it was performed.

To prevent bias, the highest and lowest scores from the judges are discarded, and the remaining marks are averaged into a trimmed mean. In addition to technical elements, skaters are graded on Program Components, which evaluate their skating skills, composition, and presentation on a scale of 0.25 to 10.

The final Total Segment Score is calculated by adding the technical and artistic points together and then subtracting any deductions for errors like falls or time violations.