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MADISON HUBBELL + ZACHARY DONOHUE, ICE DANCE CHAMPIONS
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are two-time U.S. ice dance champions, two-time world medalists, and 2018 Olympians. Additionally, they are the 2014 Four Continents champions, 14-time Grand Prix medalists, and the 2018-19 Grand Prix Final champions. Madi and Zach train at the Ice Academy of Montreal under Patrice Lauzon, Marie-France Dubreuil, Romain Haguenauer, Pascal Denis, Josée Piché, and Benjamin Brisebois. This is their 10th season together and third consecutive Skate America title.
WHAT IS THE LEGACY YOU HOPE TO LEAVE BEHIND IN THE SPORT OF FIGURE SKATING?
HUBBELL: Oh man, well, figure skating can be a tough sport on [judging a person’s] kind of surface-level appearance, and I’ve gone through many, many coaches through my life and many situations… I remember when I was quite young, already I was very mature-looking for my age, and there weren’t many people I would say in the 90s that were maybe more muscular and had a strong physique - it was a lot about being thin. I went through some years when I was younger not really knowing how I fit into that world and being told that unless I changed how I looked, I wouldn’t fit in. (Madi starts tearing up and is comforted by Zach.) But with the help of my wonderful partner and all of our coaches in Montreal, I’ve learned that I’m enough the way I am, and I have things that maybe other women don’t, and everyone should be celebrated. So I hope that there are some young girls that look up to me and think, you know, you don’t have to fit a very specific mold in order to have success. (Everyone in the room gives her a round of applause.)
DONOHUE: I mean, I can align with [what Madi said] a lot, you know, I’ve watched my partner struggle with a lot of that. I’ve had the same things told to me, [but] it’s a little bit different as a guy. I’m also a lot more stubborn, so my reaction tends to be different. I think for myself, I plan to be in the sport long after retiring - I want to teach, I want to have a school, and for me it’s really been about just the mental health of how we train. Something that I’d never experienced before coming to Montreal is having a team of coaches that are united in the health and what’s best for their skaters over any outcome, any result, but really taking care of them as people and nurturing them, and what it gives them - whether it’s confidence [or] the belief in themselves that allows them to open doors they never thought they could. I’ve seen them work with teams that finish high school and they’re done with skating and move on and because of the work they had with our coaches, they’re able to move into a whole new chapter of life they never would have thought of before. I’ve had access to many, many coaches before, and I never received that, and it’s something that I’d like to really bring to the table.
I mean, my own life has been a journey of turning myself from pretty much a Tasmanian devil of chaos into a man that I can be proud of. (Everyone breaks out laughing.) Patch [Lauzon, his coach] is over there laughing ‘cause he knows it’s true! But yeah, that’s something I want to bring to the table - all those lessons I’ve learned that I know I’ll not be able to get the full benefit out of for my own self, but if I can pass that on, that would mean more to me than what I could accomplish in my own career.
WHAT ASPECT OF ICE DANCE AND OF BEING ICE DANCERS BRINGS YOU THE MOST JOY?
HUBBELL: Well I think everybody has a different experience - I was really lucky to skate with my brother [Keiffer Hubbell] for 11 years, and I thought that I would never replace that kind of connection - and certainly you can’t replace a familial connection and the love that my brother and I share for each other - but Zach here took me by surprise, and you know the best part for me of ice dancing is dancing with him, so yeah. I don’t know what else to say. For me it was always the connection with my partner.
DONOHUE: Well, there goes my answer, cool. (laughs) It sounds so cheesy to say ‘cause you said it first, but I mean there’s definitely days as any high-level athlete where you just don’t want to come in [to training] and you feel the body, it’s in pain, and -
HUBBELL: But he comes in because of me, ‘cause he loves me so much.
DONOHUE: I was getting to that! (both laugh) It’s nice to have that amazing connection, and Madi and I have one that’s really indescribable and natural for us, and even on the worst of days, the worst of skates, anything - it feels like home. So that, combined with my love of movement and exploration and creativity, it creates a whole home-away-from-home feeling.
https://edgesofglory.com/articles/2020- … s-in-depth
