Team USA Olympians Madison Chock and Evan Bates have already solidified themselves as one of the top ice dance teams this season and with the final competition taking place right now at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, many are surprised to see that they are not on the list of competitors taking part in the competition this weekend.

After winning the gold medal in the figure skating team event and the silver medal at the ice dance event in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Madison Chock and Evan Bates shared on Instagram on March 6 that decided not to compete at Worlds.

“We left it all on the ice in Milan. Our season feels complete with those four performances where we delivered our best,” Evan wrote. “While we have decided not to compete at the World Championships, we hold dear the incredible memories from winning the last three years. Those achievements have meant so much to us.”

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, the couple continued with that sentiment with Madison Chock saying, “We decided to pull out of Worlds. We were really happy with how we performed at the Olympics and wanted to leave on that feeling. It felt like we had our four greatest performances at the Olympics, and we feel just complete with that experience.”

Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, who did not compete at the Olympics, were called up as the alternates and are currently in 13th place after the short program. Fellow Team USA Olympians are Emilea Zingas and Vadyn Kolesnik are currently in fourth, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are in seventh.

Fans who were hoping to see another showdown between current Olympic gold medalists, France’s Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry, and Madison and Evan certainly won’t get it at Worlds. There was controversy after the free program when a French judge gave scored Madison and Evan eight points lower than Guillaume and Laurence, who placed first despite obvious mistakes. Fans were hoping for an investigation into the scoring, but US Figure Skating and Madison and Evan did not call for one.

“I think there’s a real silver lining in the inspiration and example that you can set for other people in difficult, challenging times. I hesitate to say difficult times because we won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. That is something that we are so proud of and we shouldn’t overlook or downplay the magnitude of that accomplishment,” Evan told Cosmopolitan. “We’re super proud. Three-time Olympic medalists. The way we skated, that is the biggest victory of all. We couldn’t have asked for more. And that also played into the decision to want to finish this season on that note.”

The team has not officially retired from competition with Madison revealing to Cosmopolitan, “I don’t think retirement is the word, because we’re definitely still gonna continue and be involved in skating. I think maybe we’re just transitioning to a different phase of our skating career.”

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are set to participate in the Stars on Ice tour in Japan in April and in the United States starting in May.