Madison Chock and Evan Bates are Just Getting Started

When Madison Chock and Evan Bates took the ice for the Mentor Torun Cup in Poland earlier this month, they broke a lot of new ground in their seven-year partnership.

It was their first competition under their new coaching team, led by Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice "Patch" Lauzon and Romain Haguenauer. The first time they showed this season's programs. The first time they had ever started a competitive season in January.

And the first time they had competed in 10 months, following Chock's ankle surgery last spring to remove chipped bone fragments that troubled her throughout the 2017-18 season.

"I can tell you, it felt like a very long 10 months," Chock told reporters on the couple's Jan. 15 media teleconference ahead of the 2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Long, but invigorating – so much so, that after a U.S. title in 2015, two World medals, two Olympic appearances and multiple medals of every color on the Grand Prix circuit, they feel reborn as skaters.

"Our main goal is to get people excited about our skating again, as much as we are," Chock said. "We feel such a newfound passion and inspiration for skating, that we haven't had in a long time."

Here are five reasons why, in their eighth appearance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Chock and Bates think they may just be getting started:

#1: They're healthy again.
When Chock aggravated her ankle injury in the final seconds of the free dance warm-up at Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 last February, she was forced to perform the free dance in excruciating pain. Reporters were surprised to learn she had been dealing with pain all season long. Surgery, followed by extensive recuperation and rehab in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a relief.

"I needed to put my health first and make that a priority," Chock said. "I was kind of just holding on last season and pushing through, because the Olympics was the most important thing. It really gave me time to focus on my health, and that's something that I needed to do."

When the 26-year-old skater finally hit the ice at the new training digs in Montreal, Québec late last summer, everything felt fresh and exhilarating.

"So often we can take the things we love for granted, and skating was one of those things," Chock said, adding, "Since I've been off and had a nice, long, good chance to miss skating, when I came back there was so much joy and just a pureness, like when I was a little girl learning skating and everything was exciting and new."

#2: They're having fun.
Selecting music hasn't always been easy for Chock and Bates. The past several seasons, they've changed their short dance, free dance or both, sometimes multiple times. But this time around, deciding to perform their free dance to Michael Bublé's "Fever" and Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" was easy.

"I felt (Dubreuil and Haguenauer) got us really quickly and were able to suggest music for us that would complement our styles well, but also our personalities," Bates said. "And I felt, especially in the free dance, we created something that in the last minute of the program is just fun and really geared to entertaining the audience … Those kind of up-tempo free dances are kind of rare. We're happy we chose something that would stand out a little bit and also reflect our personalities really well."

Chock thinks the music gives the couple a great chance to show off their dance chops.

"Our initial inspiration was (Bob) Fosse, and so in that aspect, we really wanted to show the dance side of it," she said. "Our main reason, I think, for picking this and how we're portraying it is to show we can dance and have fun and make people feel they can dance, as well."

#3: Change is good.
Prior to this season, both skaters trained their entire ice dance careers in Michigan. Igor Shpilband, who helped team them up in 2011, was Chock's primary coach for her entire ice dance career.

"Things can get stagnant after a while," Bates said. "We needed a change just to feel reinvigorated for the next four-year (Olympic) cycle."

Of course, the couple wasn't blind to the Montreal ice dance school's success. Students of Dubreuil, Lauzon, Haguenauer and their associate coaches captured gold and silver in PyeongChang. Longtime friendly rivals Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue climbed to second in the world last season, after three seasons training in Montreal.

"We knew if we could move there, that would be the place that would spark our passion again and give us the kind of daily competition we've been craving," Bates said. "It's been really beneficial for us on the ice. And off ice, being here with people our age, friends I've grown up with and have a personal history with, those things are so beneficial to us."

The couple also enjoys exploring Montreal, even though they don't speak French.

"We feel like fish out of water, and it's good for us," Bates said. "A little discomfort is good when you're looking for growth."

#4: They're learning new technique.
Russian coaches – including Shpilband and Marina Zoueva, who co-coached with Shpilband until 2012 -- dominated the international ice dance scene for many seasons until the Montreal school came to full prominence in 2015, when Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won their first World title. Working with their French-Canadian and French coaches has been an eye-opener for Chock and Bates.

"We are seeing a different approach. We are going to find some middle ground between our previous technique and the new technique we're learning, and it's going to evolve," Bates said. "For me, I like learning, and I like skating, and to be 29 and come to a new school and to feel I'm learning new things, and getting better, is very exciting. I know Maddie feels the same way."

#5: They have a plan.
Since Chock and Bates arrived in Montreal late, much of the focus was getting their programs choreographed and competition-ready.  When this season ends, they're looking forward to "going back to basics" with their coaches.

"We know it's a long process, a multi-year process, and we're in phase one," Bates said. "Our goal for the U.S. Championships and beyond through this season is simply to show the way we feel about our own skating. We feel a new passion -- our passion never died, but it's been sparked and reinvigorated again.

"Whatever the placement is at nationals, we will certainly be able to live with it, knowing that things are heading in the right direction for us."