Madison Chock and Evan Bates Could Surprise with Strong Short Dance Program

The 2014 Winter Olympic ice dance competition does not get underway until February 16 when the short program begins at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi. 

Heading into the biggest competition in four years, all of the talk about American medal hopefuls contains the names of Meryl Davis, Charlie White and the Shibutani siblings, Maia and Alex. 

But there is one more pair you should be talking about, and you will be after the short program concludes. 

Madison Chock and Evan Bates may be the least talked about American pair in the ice dance discipline, but they can still pack a valiant punch when it comes down to determining the medal winners. 

Chock, 21, and Bates, 24, have strung together a solid group of results in the events leading up to the Olympics, and they will certainly use that momentum to surprise some fans. 

In the four competitions that the pair have competed in this winter, they have finished no worse than third place. 

That consistency is something that they have been on ever since teaming up back in 2011. 

Before they chose each other as partners, Bates was the only one of the two skaters to find some success. He won the 2008 World Junior Championships with then-partner Emily Samuelson. Bates also has some Olympic experience, as he and Samuelson finished 11th in the ice dance back in 2010 at the Vancouver Games. 

Chock and former partner Greg Zuerlein were successful at the junior level, but they never found their feet on the senior circuit. 

During their first winter as a skating duo, Chock and Bates could not crack the top three on a regular basis, but as they have built up their chemistry with one another, they have turned into one of the best American ice dancing pairs.

Their best finish this winter came at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, where they finished second and had a better score than the Shibutanis in both the short and free dances. 

Chock and Bates beat out the Shibutanis by 11 total points, with a 5.41 point advantage in their favor after the short dance. 

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By looking at the results alone, Chock and Bates are clearly the better option compared to the Shibutanis to be the second medal threat behind the gold-medal favorites, Davis and White. 

There is no doubt that Davis and White will be the odds-on favorites to dominate the short and free dances, but if Chock and Bates can deliver an impressive short program on February 16, they could be in fine position to become the second medalists in a sport where the United States always produces medal winners.