The 2017-18 season was one for the books for ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue. They won their first U.S. title, finished just off the podium at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and captured the silver medal at the 2018 ISU World Championships.
Despite finding so much success last season, the Montreal-based team is approaching the new quad with a clean slate, living only in the present moment and keeping their focus forward-looking.
"We are focusing on what we want to discover in this new era," explained Hubbell. "We have four years to explore what's new for us. I think we tried to take a lot of the things we learned in the last seven years and take those lessons to start fresh again. That's where our inspiration is coming from. It's a whole new quad, a whole new era for us."
With the new scoring changes, the upcoming quad is also ringing in a new era for the sport of figure skating.
"It's kind of a great year with all of the rule changes," Hubbell elaborated. "It is a great time to start that new era with new challenges and elements that we are not exactly sure where the limits of the rules are yet. It's definitely a year where we are pushing ourselves to create something interesting for the audience and challenging for ourselves."
The couple did not wait a minute to push the limits this season, electing to compete in back-to-back Grand Prixes to kick off the season at Skate America and Skate Canada International.
"It was a choice," Donohue confirmed. "We chose to do these two events and we were in the fortunate position of having that option. So for us, it's not about the two day recovery. It's about setting ourselves up for both events with the right mentality and staying focused on the plan we set with our coaches."
The silver lining of this physically demanding schedule is that the reigning World silver medalists will have plenty of time to gear up for the Grand Prix Final and U.S. Championships.
"We are hoping that after these Grand Prixes, we will have a lot of feedback from the judging panels and tech specialists, and with that information, we will be able to go home and reassess the situation," said Hubbell. "We can make any small tweaks we need to for the [Grand Prix] Final and start training what we want to improve, because we know that this is just the first step and certainly the Final will be a lot steeper competition. It will definitely be a lot of work for us."
Already off to a great start, the duo surpassed the 200-point mark in their victory at Skate America last weekend, picking up their 10th consecutive Grand Prix Series medal dating back to 2013. The event also marked their first Grand Prix as the reigning U.S. champions.
"For us, training out of the country, it's really cool to come back and have a crowd that really supports you as an American team," said Donohue. "This is our first competition as national champions at a Grand Prix event, but honestly all we feel is support and there is no real pressure there. We are just honored to be able to represent the country at the first Grand Prix."
Being "home" is another huge element of the season for Hubbell and Donohue. After kicking off the season in the U.S., the team will head 35 minutes up the road from their home in Montreal to compete at Skate Canada International this week.
"It will be nice that we can still go and see our dog or go to the grocery store or have our own car," Hubbell said. "It definitely affords you some more comforts."
Hubbell and Donohue will also have home ice advantage at the 2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, where the team trained from 2011-2015 prior to their move to Montreal.
"It will be kind of nice because there are a bunch of people we don't really see any more from the Detroit area and her family is really close by," explained Donohue. "Her family usually has to travel a lot to watch competitions so being in their backyard will be a really cool energy."
Hubbell added, "I'm super excited. I'm hoping we will have a humongous cheering section. I think I'm going to stay a day or two afterwards to hang out with my family and my nephews and all those people I don't get to see often enough."
Another advantage of competing in the U.S. multiple times this season? Ample access to Whole Foods and Target.
"I miss Whole Foods!" Hubbell confessed. "I eat mostly vegan and so for me, at competition, it's really great to go to a health foods store and get a bunch of stuff to keep in my hotel room. We went to Target [in Everett] for a few necessities and of course that 'Target thing' happened where you go in for one thing and then you take 30 things. It was great to get some of those home comforts that we miss living up there."
"That's all we really need as Canadian-living Americans," Donohue concluded.
With Target goods in hand, the U.S. champions are ready for the new era.
