Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are backing up their Grand Prix Final win with the Team USA Awards fan-voted Best of December honor.
The
Montreal-based team ended the first half of their 2018-19 campaign undefeated with their first ever Grand Prix Final medal - and it was gold.
"While a win is always going to feel special to Madi and me, I think what we've really tried to get ahold of recently is training like we want to win and then performing as though we don't really care if we win or lose," Donohue said in the duo's
final blog from the Grand Prix Final, Dec. 6-9, 2018. "We call it 'making our own win.'"
Securing the
top step of the podium with a season's best of 205.35 points, Hubbell and Donohue became the second U.S. ice dance team to ever win the event alongside Olympic champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
The team took the five weeks between their last Grand Prix assignment, Skate Canada International, and the Grand Prix Final to makeÂ
major adjustments to both programs, the Tango Romantica rhythm dance and
Romeo + Juliet free dance. They debuted the changes in Vancouver to earn the second-best total score internationally this season.
Swimmer Caeleb Dressel and alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin also won the month's honor for their competitive outings in December.
Next up: Hubbell and Donohue will compete to defend their U.S. title for the first time in Detroit at the 2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships later this month. Find more event information
here.
