The Ice Dance team consisting of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue might be one of the tallest in the sport. According to NBC Olympics, Hubbell is 5’8,” while her partner, Donohue, stands at 6’2″.
The couple began working together in 2011, after Hubbell’s former partner and older brother, Keiffer Hubbell, retired from ice skating. “Being a tall, curvy, muscular girl, I had trouble not coming across as flirtatious or too sexual to skate with my brother,” Hubbell recalled in an interview with Team USA. “When I switched to skating with Zach, it was really freeing that I could stop trying to be something I’m not and just fully embrace who I am and my image.”
Before becoming an official pair, however, the two rivals reportedly “loathed each other,” according to Donohue. Loathing was quickly replaced with romance, however, as the couple began a two-year relationship just six months into their partnership. Their romantic relationship ended in 2018, when the two decided their “on-ice partnership” was more important than their “off-ice relationship.” Hubbell said their mutual breakup led to a stronger partnership in the end. “We realized how serious we both were about our goals and our passion, and I think that our relationship got better and even closer — just in a different way,” she said to Team USA.
