Madison Chock and Evan Bates Talk Marriage, Winter Olympics

For U.S. figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates, there’s more to achieve on the ice than just medals and trophies.

The Olympic husband and wife duo have their eyes set on a pair of gold medals at next month’s 2026 Winter Olympics, but Chock, 33, and Bates, 36, tell PEOPLE their perspective towards the competition has matured in recent years as they head into what could be their final Olympics together.

“As we’ve grown, I feel our relationship has gotten stronger,” Bates says, one month out from perhaps the couple’s best — and last — shot at Olympic gold as teammates. 

“Obviously we’re a married couple now, but just the perspective has shifted. Skating was always the main focus, but as we’ve gotten older, I think the relationship has become the main focus,” explains Bates, sitting side-by-side with his wife. “Skating obviously is still the main focus, but skating is kind of like our means of strengthening ourselves and our relationship and going through all the experiences of life together, and so the appreciation for the partnership has grown.”

Chock and Bates were first paired up in 2011 after Chock’s first ice dance partner, Greg Zuerlein, retired. Since then, they have gone on to become one of the top duos in U.S. skating today, consistently placing in the top three at the U.S. Championships every year since 2012.

The couple tells PEOPLE they competed together for several years before they felt any romantic spark, and they eventually began dating in 2017.

“It took a while, actually,” Bates remembers. “We had already been skating together for five years, and we had been friends for 10 years already. I think just going through the highs and lows of skating and the pressure of just trying to always be your best, and it really brought us together.”

When the couple first began to “feel the romantic pull,” Bates says, “it was actually, like, when things weren’t going well” with their performances on the ice: “We really leaned on each other in those times”

Chock, from Redondo Beach, Calif., says that falling in love with each other has “absolutely” impacted their energy on the ice, and the judges have noticed: Chock and Bates have steadily improved on the global stage since their romance started, and are entering the 2026 Winter Olympics as the three-time defending world champions in ice dance.

The couple, who got engaged in 2022 and wed in Hawaii in July 2024, was just one spot shy of a podium finish at the last Winter Olympics in Beijing, though each took home their first Olympic gold medals as part of the U.S. squad in the all-around team event.

But this Olympics is different for Chock and Bates, who charmingly interrupt each other during their sit down with PEOPLE to brag about each other’s talents beyond the rink: Bates is a passionate guitar player, and Chock an in-demand costume designer who designs both theirs and other competitors’ outfits for events. (“This year, she’s designed probably 10 or 12 skating costumes for other skaters who are going to be in the Olympics in addition to doing our own costumes,” Bates proudly points out.)

Figure skating remains a sport dominated by youth, and with the Winter Games coming around only once every four years, 2026 could likely be the couple’s last shot at cementing their legacy as a pair on the ice. Off of it, though, there’s no question their own legacy is just beginning. 

For now though, just weeks out from their biggest competition yet, Chock and Bates are focused on the “stepping stones” they’ll need to cross in order to come home with gold.

“Every day we have little micro goals that we want to accomplish when we’re performing,” Chock says. “There are so many little goals to be met every day that add up to the larger goals of being faster, being more fit overall in the program, having more performance. There are little things in each performance, and those are the fun things to explore each day and how you can get just a little bit better every session.”