... and the 2026 ice dance winners are...

After the Rhythm Dance component, the standings for the top five pairs were as shown in the photo above. 

That's less than a point separating the French team from the American team, with an Olympic medal of any kind being their first.

In fact, there's less than six points between first and fifth place.

Very tight competition! 

I'm so glad I was able to tape these final competitions this afternoon!

Not that the segments aired had all 20 pairs, so I only got to watch the last eight pairs in the Free Skate portion.

Perhaps Peacock will offer all of them for me?

Meanwhile, here's what I danced along with on my loveseat.

First up was the USA pair with Christina Carreira, skating along to music from "Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer".

Although it was beautiful, it was also a bit creepy.

The red on her outfit are shaped, and colored, like drops of blood... yeah, creepy... but also beautiful... (shiver). 

10. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (United States): 119.47 free dance

Next were the pair from Spain with Olivia Smart, and she sported a design by the American, Madison Chock.

Their music was from the movie "Dune Part Two" and was quite enchanting!

They scored several places higher for the Free Skate than the other pair. 

6.  Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck (Spain): 122.96 free dance 

Another USA pair, with Emilea Zingas, followed them, performing to "Romeo and Juliet" - the one with segments used in "Sing 2"!!!

I kept picturing 'Johnny' being repeatedly humiliated by 'Klaus Kickenklober'!

Rather distracting, for me, from the romantic moment they were having - lol!

That put them into fifth place, ahead of Spain, by just 0.23 points. 

5.  Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (United States): 123.19 free dance

The local rink stars, from just a few miles away in Italy, took the ice next.

Such a lovely flowing dress Charlene wore as they whirled and twirled to songs from Italian composer Diamante.

The moves put them a solid two points ahead of the USA pair ahead of them!

 4.  Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (Italy): 125.30 free dance

Pretty exciting as those teams moved in their standings!

The team from Great Britian came with bagpipe music to celebrate their heritage.

I just loved the Scottish plaids reflected in both of their outfits!!!

Such a bit of liveliness out there for the judges and audience!!!

I'm so glad they were there to have some fun, and bring fun to us.

12.  Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (Great Britain): 118.85 free dance

That left only three teams in the competition, not only in the Free Dance, but also for the Ice Dance medals.

The first of those was from Canada, skating to "Starry Starry Night"...

and Piper Gilles wore a gorgeous blue dress bedecked with sunflowers.

That was a 'wow' moment for me!

They took the lead by a whole 6 points above their nearest competitor.

3. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (Canada): 131.56 free dance

Time for the bullfighting married couple from the USA!

That would be Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of course, and they repeated the grand performance that helped Skate Team USA take Silver earlier.

What an incredible design for her outfit!!!

The skate this time was a full 3 points ahead of Canada's pair!

2. Madison Chock and Evan Bates (United States): 134.67 free dance

That left only the French team with Guillame Cizeron to take the ice.

 "The Whale" provided the inspiration for these two friends with their incredible lifts and precision twirls - amazing for a pair only skating together for a year!

Their Free Dance was a full point higher than anyone else's score.

1. Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (France): 135.64 free dance

Good for them!!!

When all was said and done, the three teams that took the top three spots in the Rhythm Dance on Monday were the same ones that took the top three spots in the Free Skate today, as well as the top three spots in the total Ice Dance score.

That means France's Beaudry & Cizerone won the Gold, the USA's Chock & Bates took the Silver, and Canada's Giles & Porier got the Bronze.

Congratulations to those amazing skaters for their Olympic medals!!!

Congratulations to all twenty pairs of competitors for having advanced to this pinnacle of their ice dancing careers!!!

I have so enjoyed all of these beautifully choreographed dances on ice!!!