Madison Chock and Evan Bates have been the best American ice dancers for years.

Best in the world, too.

They only served to underscore that fact on Saturday in Wichita, Kan. , where they won their fourth consecutive title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and sixth overall, which matched the record held by longtime standard-bearers Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Chock and Bates followed up their sublime rhythm dance with a winning free dance, totaling 223.52 points to easily outdistance second-place Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko. Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finished third.

“It means honestly the world,” Bates said. “The U.S. championships is always an event that we hold near and dear to our hearts. I think it’s because it’s the competition that we grew up coming to every January, watching every year on TV as kids. It’s what made us fall in love with the sport. There’s something incredibly magical about this event.”

In the pairs competition, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov managed to hold their free skate together while their biggest rivals collapsed, allowing them to do one better than their silver medal from a year ago and stand atop the podium Saturday night.

Efimova and Mitrofanov scored 211.90 points for their program. Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman also took advantage of mistakes by defending champs Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and 2023 runner-ups Emily Chan and Spencer Howe to capture the silver medal.

Earlier in the day, two-time defending U.S. champion and reigning world champion Ilia Malinin scored 114.08 points for his short program to take a big lead into today’s free skate. Andrew Torgashev was 20 points back in second and Jimmy Ma in third.

Chock, who was dealing with a food-related stomach bug all week, nevertheless joined Bates in a rollicking rhythm dance set to music from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s with her longtime partner on Friday night. Chock and Bates had 92.16 points, putting them nearly 10 points clear of second-place Carreira and Ponomarenko heading into the free dance.

With Chock still dealing with her illness Saturday, they still managed to pad their lead, and confirm their status as favorites not just for the upcoming world championship in Boston but also the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

“Maddie has had a tough couple of days. Wasn’t really able to fuel much,” Bates said. “She’s so tough. She’s never not going to go out there and not give it her best. It took all the little energy that she had. I just tried to give the love and support to her.”

Carreira and Ponomarenko finished with 210.79 points for their second consecutive silver medal, while Green and Parsons took bronze after they had been tied on 82.13 points with Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik after the rhythm dance.

In the men’s short program, Malinin, 20, did exactly what he’s become known for: nailing quads. He opened with a quad flip, breezed through a triple axel, then hit a quad lutz in combination with a triple toe loop.

U.S. Figure Skating also confirmed its three-woman lineup for the world championships in March. Amber Glenn, who won her second straight national title on Friday night, will be joined by U.S. silver medalist Alysa Liu and reigning world silver medalist Isabeau Levito, provided she is healthy enough to compete. She did not compete at nationals due to injury.

If Levito is unable to perform in Boston, she would be replaced by newly minted U.S. bronze medalist Sarah Everhardt.

SKIING

Federica Brignone edged out teammate Sofia Goggia by the smallest possible margin for an Italian 1-2 finish in a women’s World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, while Lindsey Vonn missed a gate near the bottom of the course and failed to finish.

In a clash of contrasting racing styles, Brignone had a technically well controlled run down the Kandahar course to finish 0.01 seconds ahead of Goggia, who lost considerable time early on before going all in for a gutsy second part.

It was the last downhill before the Feb. 4-16 world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

The result marked the 32nd career win for Brignone but only her second in downhill, two weeks after her maiden triumph in the sport’s fastest discipline in St. Anton, Austria.

Brignone extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 110 points over defending champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland, who finished the race in fifth.

Mikaela Shiffrin, who lost her early lead in this season’s standings following an abdominal injury that required surgery in December, has announced her comeback to racing for a night slalom in France on Thursday. The American five-time champion trails Brignone by almost 500 points.

Swiss skier Corinne Suter was 0.19 behind in third, followed by Breezy Johnson who was 0.06 further back in fourth for the American’s best result since sitting out last season for violations of anti-doping rules.

Sixth-placed Lauren Macuga, who earned her first World Cup win two weeks ago, and Jacqueline Wiles in 11th added to a strong showing from the U.S. ski team.

A late starter with bib 28, Vonn was more than a second off the pace at her final split time when she appeared to hit a bump before entering a right turn and couldn’t adjust in time to make the next gate.

“It was OK,” said Vonn, adding she didn’t want to take risks in flat light on a course with parts of soft snow.

“I always want to go full speed but maybe I still need a bit more time,” she said.

It’s Vonn’s second straight DNF in her sixth race back since returning to ski racing this season at age 40 with a new titanium knee. The American fell but avoided injury last week in a super-G in Italy on the course to be used at next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.

Czech skier Tereza Nova underwent brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma after crashing in training for the race.

The Czech ski federation said Nova needed surgery to reduce brain swelling at a hospital in nearby Murnau after she went down in the final training session on the Kandahar course on Friday.

James Crawford became the first Canadian skier in 42 years to win the prestigious World Cup downhill on the Streif course in Kitzbuehel, Austria, sharing the podium with his third-placed teammate Cameron Alexander.

Wearing bib No. 20 and coming down after all pre-race favorites had completed their runs, Crawford stunned the field with an attacking run on one of the circuit’s most challenging courses.

He bumped then leader Alexis Monney into second position to deny the dominant Swiss team yet another victory.

BOBSLED

The U.S. won gold and silver in a women’s monobob race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, getting two medals for the second consecutive day.

Elana Meyers Taylor was first for the second consecutive day, Kaysha Love was second to improve one spot from her Friday finish.

HORSE RACING

White Abarrio won the $3 million Pegasus World Cup with a dominant performance at Gulfstream.

He ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.05 under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who earned his third career Pegasus victory. Sent off as the 5-2 favorite, White Abarrio held off runner-up Locked and Skippylongstocking.