Madison Chock and Evan Bates have been a figure skating duo since 2011.
MILAN, Metropolitan City of Milan — Figure skating duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates are working to get their second ever gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, but this is the first time they’re competing in the Games as a married couple.
The two told NBC Olympics they engaged in 2022 while on vacation in Thailand.
“(It’s) one of my favorite memories of all time,” Bates, 36, said when recalling the proposal.
He said he was “super nervous” when he was proposing, even though he thought he knew the answer would be yes.
“I had planned it all out, but of course, plans get derailed,” he said. He recalled how it had been raining on the day he was “determined” to propose.
They went for massages and spent the rainy day together where Chock, 33, said her suspicions were rising.
“He was acting a little strange, like, I could tell he was nervous. I’m like ‘why is he nervous? We’re on vacation,” Chock recalled. “He kept checking his bag. He had this bag and I’m like ‘he never carries a bag with him anywhere.’ This crossbody bag (I thought was) suspicious.”
They went to the beach despite the rain where Bates finally popped the question.
“My heart was fluttering, my voice was weird,” he said. “I got down on one knee and I just muttered ‘will you marry me?'”
The two got married two years after the engagement. Their ceremony was in Waikiki, Hawaii in June 2024.
The couple is now in their fourth Olympic Games together and have stunned the masses with their stellar performances.
They first started working together in 2011 when Chock’s first ice dance partner, Greg Zuerlein, retired, according to Cosmopolitan. They also skated in the 2014 Sochi Olympics as teammates and by the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, they were a couple. A few months after their third Olympics in Beijing, they announced their engagement.
Are Evan Bates and Madison Chock married?
Yes. The two figure skaters tied the knot in June 2024.