Hubbell and Donohue Head to Skate America With Eyes on the Future

Madison Hubbell will be frank about it: the 2019-20 season was not the best for her and partner Zachary Donohue.
 
By anyone else's standards, the pair had a phenomenal year. In their two ISU Grand Prix assignments, they won Skate America® and placed second at Skate Canada International. They earned silver at the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, bronze at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and bronze at the Grand Prix Final.
 
But following two consecutive U.S. titles and going undefeated on the Grand Prix circuit – including the Grand Prix Final – in 2018, it felt like a step in the wrong direction.
 
"Last season was a bit of a challenge for Zach and I," Hubbell said. "I think we had such a dominant year in 2019, and we knew that people were very close to (catching) us, but it has kind of a different effect on you mentally when you feel like each competition you're losing ground.
 
"I think there was nothing wrong with what we were doing. We just weren't always performing our best, and I think it was so much more mental than it was physical. The impact of everything was strong. The programs had everything that they needed. We were just kind of lacking the belief that we could make it happen."
 
They were looking forward to redeeming themselves at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020 in their home city of Montreal. But when the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their season was abruptly over.
 
"From the skating side of things, it was definitely a bit of a disappointment to have worked so hard to build the program up to where we really wanted to perform it for Worlds," Donohue said. "But it also kind of gave us a chance to just remove ourselves from that feeling of frustration, and kind of step back and analyze and reset our intention for the next couple of years."
 
From then on, their focus has been firmly on what lies ahead.
 
Most immediately is 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America, held October 23-25 at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Hubbell and Donohue are the two-time reigning Skate America® champions, but will face a new challenge in skating in an empty arena.
 
"It's going to be a crazy experience, so we're kind of looking forward to being able to take the lessons we're going to learn from competing in a rink where the only crowd is paper cutouts," Donohue said with a laugh. "Even though we hope next season will return to normal, thinking about this kind of pressure and being able to take that on in programs that we really believe in and are looking forward to competing, it's going to be an invaluable learning experience."
 
Hubbell and Donohue are also coming off a victory in the International Selection Pool (ISP) Points Challenge, a virtual competition held by U.S. Figure Skating, scoring 206.51 overall. Their rhythm dance set to a Burlesque medley by Christina Aguilera earned 82.14 points, while their free dance to "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley and k.d. lang earned 124.37 points.
 
"I think it was a great idea from the federation, because I don't think it would've felt super comfortable to go to Skate America with that pressure of, 'Nobody's ever seen our programs and I have no idea what anybody's going to think,'" Hubbell said with a laugh. "It's a little bit more freeing now. People have seen it, we've gotten initial feedback, we've worked and we've made improvements, and I don't have that kind of question mark hanging over my head, and I can just perform with a little bit more enjoyment."
 
With the rest of this season up in the air, Hubbell and Donohue are using whatever experiences they do get this year as training for the future.
 
The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 are just 16 months from now, and their sights are already set on improving upon their fourth-place finish in PyeongChang in 2018.
 
While off the ice for four months during the shutdown, the pair worked with acrobats in Montreal – socially distanced and outdoors – to help them with their lifts and expand their repertoire of elements so they have a wider selection to choose from in their Olympic season. They eased back into on-ice training once shutdown regulations lifted, knowing that it's too close to the Olympics for them to push too hard and suffer an injury.
 
And the impending Olympics has kept them motivated during training sessions, when they're tired and the next competition seems all too far away.
 
"After last season, the way we wanted to regroup was really with our eyes towards our main goal, which is to become World champions and Olympic champions," Hubbell said. "And we have plenty of goals and plenty of things we need to work on whether we compete or not. So really, that drive towards our future goal is what kept us motivated and moving along. We're using all of these events as test runs for the Olympics."
 
Hubbell and Donohue know that they're closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, and even as they push themselves to a golden standard, they're trying not to get ahead of themselves.
 
They're consistently trying to find the balance between looking ahead and enjoying their daily grind – regardless of what this season brings – because they know as well as anyone that time flies, and the Olympics will be here before they know it.
 
"We're trying to stay in the moment and enjoy each day and enjoy skating with each other, because we have something that's very special and we know it's probably not going to be replaced with anything when we retire," Hubbell said. "That feeling of performing and freedom and power and things that we can experience together as a team are irreplaceable, so we're trying to enjoy it day by day."

Don't miss Hubbell and Donohue this week at 2020 Guaranteed Rate Skate America on Peacock Premium, your all-access pass to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, Learn more and start your 7-day free trial at peacocktv.com/skating.