ST. LOUIS — Consistency is its own form of belief. Confidence in accrued success. That’s why Madison Chock and Evan Bates, certainly headed to their fourth Winter Olympics, won’t be changing their approach.

If the American duo is to finally make an Olympic podium in the ice dance, it will be because they believed. Disappointment wasn’t a deterrent. The ends didn’t ruin the means.

“It’s going to be a lot more of what it has been,” Chock said. “We know what to do. We’ve got our plan, and we’re executing it. We don’t plan on deviating from it. We’re going to stick to it. Trust ourselves. Trust our team. And do what we know how to do, which is prepare and skate.”

Chock and Bates scored 137.17 in Saturday’s free dance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to secure their seventh title in the ice dance at nationals, with a total score of 228.87. They’ll certainly be one of the three duos named to the U.S. Olympic team Sunday and will vie for their first ice dance medal at the Games. They won team gold with the U.S. in Beijing in 2022.

The U.S. has earned a medal in ice dancing in five consecutive Olympics.

Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto took silver in 2006. Meryl Davis and Charlie White won silver in 2010 and gold in 2014. Maia and Alex Shibutani won bronze in 2018. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won bronze in the last cycle.

“I remember growing up and looking up to Tanith and Ben, and Meryl and Charlie and idolizing them,” Chock said. “Just what they embodied for ice dance and encompassed. I really took that to heart and let it guide me and lead me. Hopefully, we can leave a little bit of that legacy for the next generation and keep the love for the sport going.”

Chock and Bates will head to Milan as a top contender to win the one ice dance prize that has eluded them — Olympic gold. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

That legacy warrants an Olympic medal. Reasons suggest this is the time for Chock and Bates. Perhaps their last chance. They were Olympians in 2014, 2018 and 2022, finishing eighth, ninth and fourth, respectively. Perhaps the only thing more unique than a pair so good not having a medal is them still being elite enough to go get one.

The pair owns nearly every medal in the sport and has won three straight world championship titles. Saturday, their seventh U.S. championship gold set a new American record.

“It means everything to us,” said Chock, a Redondo Beach, Calif., native. “Seven-time national champions seems surreal.”

Chock and Bates now have 14 total medals at nationals. They’ve won three golds, a silver and a bronze at the world championships and another eight medals at the Four Continents Championships, including three golds. Seven times they medaled at the Grand Prix Final, the culmination of the sport’s annual top-circuit season, winning three.