Engaged off the ice, Madison Chock and Evan Bates still loving the process on it, too
The American ice dancers are the reigning world champions and in their 13th (and final?!) season together. They say their personal relationship has buoyed their career.
Figure Skating
In one of their final scenes together in the Olympic Channel original series On Edge, ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates discuss their pending trip to the Olympics for Beijing 2022.
They also chat about what size of Christmas tree they want to get for their Montreal apartment.
Skating partners since 2011, the duo indeed made that trip to Beijing, their third Olympic Games together. In 2017, they began a romantic relationship off the ice, and got engaged last June to be married in 2024.
"I love skating with Madi," a smiling Bates told Olympics.com in 2023.
It's a love of one another that has helped them into a 13th season together, but also that balance between Olympic-sized expectations and... well, Christmas trees.
"We still love what we do and we enjoy the process," Chock said, sitting alongside Bates in an exclusive interview. "Having to put in the work day in and day out over the years, you have to be in love with the process. That's something that we've done and we still have those feelings."
Having chosen to continue after their third Games, they claimed a first world title last March (that's been an "ultimate goal," said Bates), but hinted at this year’s U.S. Championships - where they won a sixth title - that this season could be their last.
"When we were contemplating whether or not we should skate [here], it went through my mind, 'What if this is it?'" Chock said, referring to the choice to skate while feeling under the weather.
"We thought if this is our last [U.S. nationals], then we would go out knowing that we skated and we did our best and we fought through it."
Chock/Bates: Their final season together?
Since the Olympics two years ago, Chock/Bates have operated with a single drumbeat: We're taking things season-by-season.
So their admitting in Columbus that this year could be their final came as a relative surprise, even as they are both into their 30s, with Chock at 31 and Bates 34. Do pending nuptials - their wedding is planned for this summer - have anything to do with it?
Perhaps. But they've also been driven by peers over the last two seasons: Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri have pushed on in the 15th season together; as have Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who teamed up in 2011.
"Usually we see a huge drop-off of skaters who stop competing after the Olympics," said Chock, which is true - as of now - of reigning Olympic champs Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. "We saw a little bit of that [after Beijing], but there still are a ton of us who have decided to forge on."
Next month's World Championships in Montreal could prove pivotal as to which - and how - teams might continue.
Chock/Bates have emerged as the top team after the 2022 Grand Prix Series: They haven't lost a competition since the start of 2023, beating their chief rivals at both Worlds in 2023 and at last December's Grand Prix Final.
That GPF win in Beijing was another first for Chock/Bates.
“I guess seven is our lucky number,” Chock said laughing, according to the ISU. “This has been a goal of ours for a long time. We've been to seven finals, and all of them have been wonderful. But I think this one is the best one so far."
'We're committed to one another'
"So how did you decide to skate with me?" joked Bates in an On Edge interview back in 2021.
"There's just something about him, right?" responded Chock wryly.
The two have forged plenty of paths together away from the ice, Montreal abode included.
In 2021 they launched a podcast called Unlaced, which followed their adventures around the globe as a skating couple, and they share two beloved dogs, Henry and Stella, who they often bring to the rink with them during practices.
Chock has been outspoken about her roots as a Chinese-Hawaiian American who grew up in Southern California, while Bates has been a leader across U.S. Figure Skating teams as well as a 2022 elected member of the International Skating Union's (ISU) Athlete Commission.
Chock designs many of their costumes, and said she'll have a hand in the design around her wedding dress - and Evan's attire - if perhaps even concepting the looks herself.
"We're committed to one another on the ice and off of it," Chock said simply in 2023, a simple yet powerful statement.
And what their partnership will still bring to ice dance this season and beyond - that's what we're set to find out.