Hubbell and Donohue Win Bronze in Final Olympic Performance

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, in their final competition on Olympic ice, claimed a bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. This marks the fifth consecutive Olympics in which a U.S. ice dance team has earned a medal of any color.

Hubbell and Donohue, three-time U.S. champions and three-time World medalists, earned a personal-best 130.89 points in their free dance. Overall, they scored a personal-best 218.02 points to capture the bronze medal, an upgrade from four years ago when they finished fourth.

Their free dance, performed to "Drowning" by Anne Sila, featured six Level 4 elements, including a combination spin, a curve lift and twizzles. The team received a one-point deduction for an extended lift.

"We're extremely proud, grateful and really excited to stand on the medal stand tonight," Hubbell said.

Hubbell and Donohue (30 and 31, respectively) told Fan Zone in January that they are looking forward to retirement after this season. Hubbell, in particular, said she is most excited to not work out every day. But Donohue plans to continue daily workouts, he said. 

They want to fill their retirement with shows, performing as much as possible, and giving back to the sport through coaching opportunities, they said after their performance.

"How right are our imaginations when we try to look forward?" Donohue said post-performance, wondering how the real moment of winning a medal compared to how he had envisioned it. "I'd say it's as different as could be. We start with a dream and it all seems hunky-dory, golden glory. As you work and the self-doubt creeps in, you have to build each other up. The dream ebbs and flows. Being able to have it actualized in the moment is honestly not something that I think is really possible at this moment at least to put words to… I know it's starting with a lot of gratitude."

As they exited the ice at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, Hubbell suggested "one last turn" with Donohue to salute the audience. They did so, before hugging their coaches and heading to the kiss and cry area to receive their scores.

"I caught eyes with [coach] Marie[-France Dubreuil], and Marie did this: 'take it in,'" Hubbell explained. "And, you know, I do everything Marie tells me to do… We wanted to take a moment, thank the audience, thank each other, the arena. Not many people get to experience that moment so it would be a shame to walk away without really appreciating it."

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, competing in their third Olympics together, were fourth by behind their training mates.

Chock and Bates earned six Level 4 elements in their free dance, including their straight-line lift in combination with a rotational lift, their twizzles, and their stationary lift for a free dance score of 130.63 points (a personal best). They also notched a personal-best 214.77 points overall.   

"Given the depth of ice dance and how fierce the competition is, we knew coming in that we would need the best from ourselves to be on the podium," Bates said. "There are only three spots on the podium and we were fourth, but there's a lot to be proud of I think, still."

Bates also made history in these Games as the first U.S. figure skater to compete in four Olympic Winter Games. In their previous Olympic appearances, Chock and Bates were ninth (2018), and eighth (2014); Bates was 11th in Vancouver with former partner Emily Samuelson.

The couple on and off the ice had already brought their alien-and-astronaut-themed Daft Punk medley free dance to Olympic ice earlier in the Games.

Chock and Bates and Hubbell and Donohue earned an Olympic silver medal earlier in these Games as part of Team USA's efforts in the team event, alongside Nathan Chen, newly-crowned men's Olympic champion who was in the audience for the free dance, Vincent Zhou, who had to withdraw from the men's event due to a positive COVID-19 result, Karen Chen, who skates later in these Games, and pairs team Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, also still to skate.

"It's possible we'll continue skating, but other things are also possible," Chock said regarding a possible retirement after the duo competes at the World Championships next month. "That's a decision that we haven't made yet and one that we look forward to talking about."

Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who also train with the other U.S. duos in Montreal, earned 115.16 points in the free dance and a total of 189.74 points in their Olympic debut. They finished their Beijing 2022 campaign in 11th place.

Their Chopin free dance featured five Level 4 elements including their twizzles, their combination spin, and their curve lifts. 

Baker's experience at the Olympics marks a unique personal milestone: he now joins his mother as another member of their family to compete in ice dance at the Olympics. She competed in ice dance at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games for Great Britain.

"To have that experience shared with my mom as well, I can't imagine other than maybe Ashley Cain[-Gribble] and [ROC ice dancer] Ivan Bukin and a couple other phenomenal athletes that are here can share that experience with a family member, particularly your mother and in the same discipline, even," he said. (Referring to U.S. pairs skater Ashley Cain-Gribble, whose father Peter Cain is her coach and an Olympic pairs skater for Australia.)

Meryl Davis, one half of the last U.S. ice dance team to win a gold medal with partner Charlie White in 2014, said in a tweet how proud she was of the efforts of each American dance team.
"I couldn't possibly be more impressed by or proud of all three of our American ice dance teams tonight," she tweeted. "Masterful movement, authentic emotion and exemplary sportsmanship. No matter how the results turn out – congratulations to all of you tremendous humans!"

France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, who train in Montreal with the U.S. teams, earned the gold with 226.98 total points. Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, competing at these Games as part of the Russian Olympic Committee, earned the silver medal with 220.51 total points.

Competition continues with the women's short program on Tuesday beginning at 6 p.m. (5 a.m. ET). Fans can follow along on the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone Competition Central.