For many people, the holidays mean last-minute shopping, travel plans, and time spent with extended family over third helpings of a long-prepared meal.
For the Winter Olympic athlete, any festive spirit takes second place to their sporting season – often in full swing as the year draws to a close. “There are trade-offs,” Evan Bates, U.S. three-time world figure skating champion and Olympic team gold medalist said. “If you want to represent Team USA and compete for an Olympic spot, it means you've got to be training on holidays.”
But Bates, along with on and off ice partner Madison Chock, find little ways to celebrate the season. “We’ve been really into the Christmas movies this year – even the bad ones,” Bates said. "Every night we watch one, and we were just now listening to Frank Sinatra singing Christmas carols.”
“It makes it feel super cozy,” Chock added.
The husband-and-wife team live and train in Montreal, Canada, while both their families reside in the United States. Bates said driving through the snow recently, he did find himself thinking about how nice it would be to be with his family, currently gathered together in the Florida sun, but that the trade-offs come with a life they are lucky to live.
“Most people get time off this time of year,” he said. “But then, as Madison put it, most people don’t get to go to [compete in] Japan three times a year.”
With the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy just around the corner, this year particularly has felt condensed. The Grand Prix Final took place in Nagoya, Japan just a couple weeks ago, and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships – where the Olympic U.S. team will be announced – will be held earlier than usual this year, starting January 7th in St. Louis, Missouri.
This has left little time to decorate for the holidays. “We pulled out a tiny little one foot tall tree and put it on our bookshelf,” Bates said. “I bought a candy cane-looking candle and we have Christmas-y pajamas!” Chock added.
“My mom makes the most amazing snowball Christmas cookies,” Chock said. “But, man, if I were to bake those myself, they probably wouldn't taste as good because they don't have her loving touch. Plus I would probably eat them all in one sitting: I have no self control when it comes to Christmas cookies.”
Thanksgiving has been off the table for years, the couple said, due to the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series taking place from October through the beginning of December. But in past seasons they have managed to take some time to spend Christmas with family.
“Last year, we went home to Palm Springs, and we saw my parents for the holidays,” Chock said. “And then the Christmas before that, we went to Evan’s parents' place."
After 15 competitive years together, Chock and Bates said they pretty much run their own training schedule. “Our coaches are pretty flexible at this point in our careers, and we're kind of calling the shots on our time off,” Chock said. “If anything, the coaches will tell us, ‘Don't you want to take some time off?’ And we'll be like, ‘Oh, yeah. That's a really good point. We should do that.’”
While no retirement announcements have been made, the six-time U.S. national champions (likely to win a historic seventh title in January), are candid about being in the final stages of their competitive career.
In a future without the rigors of daily training, when taking time off no longer will impact their chances at medals and sporting glory, the couple is excited to spend long holidays with family.
“In our future I feel like we’ll get really into it – baking cookies and everything – I want to do all that stuff,” Bates said.
Chock agreed. “Gosh, I would love to go on a snowboard trip (“Skiing!” Bates said). Do something mountain-y and adventurous or just stay at a cute ski chalet for three weeks with all our family.”
For now, Chock and Bates say they firmly are locked in to their training, close to the goal they’ve worked toward for the past four years and throughout their lives as athletes. While those alternative holiday plans remain on hold, the couple are clear they feel blessed to have spent their years competing through the holidays together.
“I think it's really nice to be a part of a sport that happens during the holidays, because you see friends and family gather at our events,” Chock said. “It's kind of like a special holiday treat to come see a skating competition. We feel so blessed that so many of the people that mean the most to us naturally all come together this time of year.”