Chock and Bates Capture Second Straight Gold Medal at Finlandia Trophy

The U.S. ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates led the American contingent, coming away with a gold medal at 2019 Finlandia Trophy in Espoo, Finland.

The 2019 Four Continents champions received a score of 78.80 in the rhythm dance and 119.46 in the free dance for a total score of 198.26. The win marked their second consecutive gold medal of the season, also topping the podium at 2019 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic.

Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu of China secured silver, while Russia's Betina Popova and Sergey Mozgov took home bronze.

In the men's event, Jimmy Ma was the lone American in the field.

Ma, who opened his season last month at the 2019 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic where he placed sixth, received a cumulative score of 213.49 and finished fourth.

Ma scored 66.48 in his short program and went on to register a score of 147.01 in the free skate, an international best. His free skate included an opening quadruple toe loop, marking the first time the Texas-based skated landed a quad jump in competition.

Japanese skaters Shoma Uno won gold and Sota Yamamoto grabbed silver, while Canada's Roman Sadovsky finished third.

In the ladies' event, Starr Andrews led the way for the Americans with a fifth-place finish.

In her third appearance of the season, Andrews registered a score of 57.25 in the short program and 111.85 in the free skate.

Also in her third appearance of the season, Megan Wessenberg finished eighth with 148.21 total points.

Russia's Alena Kostornaia won gold, while Elizaveta Tuktamysheva secured silver and Yuhana Yokoi of Japan finished third.

In the pairs competition, Olivia Serafini and Mervin Tran took to international ice for the first time since teaming up in 2018.

In their international debut, the pair earned a score of 60.24 in the short program and 106.84 in the free skate en route to finishing fifth.

Russians Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, and Alisa Efimova and Alexander Korovin took the top spots in the pairs competition, while Liubov Ilyushechkina and Charlie Bilodeau of Canada claimed third.

The Challenger Series continues next week for the Ice Star 2019 in Minsk, Belarus.