The International Skating Union (ISU) has defended the judging of the ice dance event at Milano Cortina 2026, following a silver-medal performance by Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates that sparked widespread debate.
Much of the backlash stemmed from French judge Jezabel Dabouis favouring French duo Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by nearly eight points over the three-time world champion Americans in the free dance.
The result prompted a fan petition on Change.org calling for the ISU and the International Olympic Committee to investigate the scoring; by Friday evening, the petition had garnered almost 17,000 signatures.
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France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron take gold ahead of Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the Milano Cortina 2026 ice dance. Tim Clayton via Getty Images
In a statement, the ISU maintained it has “full confidence in the scores given,” noting that multiple layers of review are built into the system to reduce discrepancies.
“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges on any panel,” the ISU said.
“To mitigate these variations and ensure fairness, several mechanisms are in place. The highest and lowest scores for each element are typically dropped, reducing the impact of any outliers.
“Scores are averaged across the remaining judges, and technical elements are reviewed and verified by a technical panel to ensure consistency with the rules.”
Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on Stan Sport.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron claimed gold with a total of 225.82 points, narrowly edging out the Americans on 224.39. The ISU added that an Officials’ Assessment Committee provides further oversight and that judges undergo regular training “to maintain a high standard of scoring accuracy.”
Bates told reporters on Friday that while he and Chock had not read the petition, they were aware of it.
US stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates perform their silver-medal winning Free Dance at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Getty
“It means a lot that people are voicing their opinions on our behalf,” he said.
Chock suggested the controversy highlights a broader transparency issue within the sport.
“Anytime the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” she said.
“I think it’s hard to retain fans when it’s difficult to understand what is happening on the ice. There needs to be a lot more clarity for the skaters, for the coaches, and for the audience in order to just have a solid fan base moving forward. People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”
The current scoring system was overhauled following the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games scandal.
In that instance, duplicate gold medals were awarded to Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier after an investigation into allegations of vote-swapping and rigging.
Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze had initially been awarded the gold.
To combat future subjectivity, figure skating is now turning to artificial intelligence and computer vision technology.
For the past two years, the ISU has been testing high-resolution camera systems that use AI to track movements and analyse technical elements — such as jump rotation, height, distance travelled, and spin positions — in real time.