World champions take same-sex ice dancing to new level
Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell on Thursday took to the ice at a figure skating gala in Zurich trying to "push the limit" of the sport as a same-sex pair performing together.
Although Skate Canada became in 2022 the first governing body in the sport to allow same-sex duos to compete at a national level, Papadakis and Hubbell are the most high-profile pair to perform together.
"The sport world can be more conservative than, let's say, the art world and ice dance kind of bridges that gap," 33-year-old Hubbell told AFP.
"So I'm excited that there are more and more people who want to push the limit and ask the question of why not?"
Frenchwoman Papadakis and American Hubbell are performing together at the "Art on Ice Gala" which takes place in several cities in Switzerland in February.
The two women, rivals for many years competitively, trained alongside each other at the Ice Academy in Montreal, Canada.
"We were also friends and one day at training, we skated a bit together, a bit for laughs at first, for fun and then actually, we realised that it was quite cool and that it was quite enjoyable and we said to ourselves, when we're finished with our competitive career, we'll try for real," said Papadakis.
Papadakis explained that after the Olympics, the pair made videos skating together and "one thing led to another".
"The producers of Art on Ice contacted us asking if we would potentially be interested in putting on a show for them and that's it, here we are."
Papadakis and Hubbell hope their example along with Skate Canada's policy will spark change globally.
"There are a lot of people trying to make this change happen in international, national bodies, and we wanted to bring our little stone to the building too," said Papadakis.
"It wasn't our basic intention but we realise what it can represent, what it can show, for us, it's something that is close to our hearts too.
"I also realised while skating with Madison, is that there were codes that I had never really questioned all my life."
The couple said they also wanted their status in the skating world to inspire same-sex couples to pursue a competitive career.
"That would maybe be my dream in this next step of the journey," said Hubbell, who now works as a figure skating coach in Canada.
"What I'm more curious about is how do we make this all fit into the actual competitive rules of skating.
"A lot of people said right away when the conversation started that two men would have an advantage because they'd be better at lifts.
"While that might be true, initially, I actually would be interested to see because lifting is a skill much like anything else and if women were taught as young girls to start lifting just like you see in circus or other art forms I think you would find that people are all capable and I don't know that there would be such a clear advantage, disadvantage as what maybe initially comes to mind."
Papadakis and ice dancing partner Guillaume Cizeron retired late last year after winning five world titles and taking Olympic gold in Beijing 2022, having won silver at the PyeongChang Games four years earlier.
Hubbell and her partner Zachary Donohue won Olympic team gold with the United States and ice dancing bronze together in Beijing, and were three-time world silver medallists. - AFP