Madison La’akea Te-Lan Hall Chock and Evan Christian Bates have had a long, intense journey together as skating partners for the last 13 years. They have competed in more than 100 competitions globally and won five U.S. national champion titles, two world champion titles and one Olympic gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
But the biggest moment of their lives, they said, took place on June 20: exchanging leis as they said “I do” at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute in Oahu, Hawaii.
They decided to get married there to honor Ms. Chock’s Hawaiian heritage. The venue is a cultural institute dedicated to the preservation of Hawaiian culture.
The couple met 18 years ago in Michigan, “the mecca for ice dance at that time,” Ms. Chock said.
Ms. Chock, who grew up in Redondo Beach, Calif., moved to Novi, Mich., in 2005, at age 13, to transition from singles figure skating to ice dancing, which requires a partner. Mr. Bates was living in Ann Arbor, where he grew up.
They trained at different skating rinks that were about 20 minutes away from each other, but the ice dance community was a small one. They met some time in 2006.
Both were flourishing with their ice skating partners. Mr. Bates, now 35, and his partner were world junior champions in 2008. Ms. Chock, 31, and her partner won in 2009.
