Finally Recovered, Hawayek and Baker Look to Make First Olympic Team

A lot has happened since Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker finished in fourth place at the 2018 U.S. Championships in San Jose, California. The duo had firmly established themselves as strong contenders to earn a berth on their first Olympic Team, capturing the U.S. Championships bronze medal the last three years, and finishing more than 20 points ahead of the fourth-place competitors a year ago in Las Vegas. But a mid-summer injury hastened Hawayek and Baker's training plan heading into this very important season, leaving the couple to play catch up in advance of this week's 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
"In July we were working on a new lift, and it was just a little bit off in terms of a counterbalance," Hawayek explained. "We had done it multiple times and never had an issue and this time we were pushing it a little bit further and the counterbalance was just too much for us and I fell and hit my head."
 
Hawayek was taken to the hospital where she received a couple of stitches in her head and a diagnosis of a concussion. She immediately began working with Sarah El Queisi, a concussion specialist who had helped a couple of Hawayek's training mates who had previously suffered from similar injuries.
 
"She put me on a very strict protocol in terms of how many hours I could train, and we made sure that my maximum heartrate was monitored as part of my recovery," Hawayek said. "I was initially off the ice for 10 days and then our progression into training was very slow based on protocol. It was tedious and I am not a very patient person, so it wasn't always the easiest to follow, but I did it and am grateful because I think it really helped me to recover as quickly as possible."
 
Suffering from episodes of benign posterior positional vertigo, Hawayek was unable to complete moves that were once old hat for the 2018 Four Continents champion.
 
"Basically, if I hit a certain orientation—typically when I was horizontal, my eyes would start to spin like the movie Vertigo," she explained. "I was limited to the number of rotational things that I could do—they were the last elements that we added back into my training."

While Hawayek was focused on her recovery, Baker patiently worked to improve his strength and conditioning independent from his partner. He was in the gym five or six days a week and spent a great deal of time on the ice revisiting the basics.
 
"We made a plan with one of the trainers at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center and with our trainer here in Montreal. There was a lot of work on just basic stroking and edge glide with Sam Chouinard and there was also a lot of dancing," he said. "I had a really great time with him in that respect, though it would have been more fun to share that with Kaitlin. I was making sure that I was as strong as I could be for when she was ready to be back full steam ahead."
 
Hawayek was able to get back on the ice in early August, but her training was limited by the rate of her recovery. With guidance from El Queisi and strict monitoring from her coaching team, the 25-year-old was permitted to increase the time that she trained in 15-minute increments. As the competition season drew near, it became evident that she and Baker would have to make the difficult decision to withdraw from some of their early season assignments.
 
"It was pretty obvious that the U.S. International Classic would not be an option," Hawayek said. "And then the U.S. team was pulled from the Asian Open as a precaution. It was really a tough decision for us to withdraw from our first Grand Prix, the NHK Trophy, because Japan is one of our favorite places to compete and its always such a great competition."
 
The duo finally made their season debut in late November at Rostelecom Cup in Sochi, Russia, and finished in a respectable fifth place. A week later they captured the title at the Golden Spin of Zagreb, improving their total score by nearly five points, and more importantly, feeling as if their season was moving in the right direction.
 
"It is hard to see exponential growth in terms of score over a season, so we knew that our debut in Russia needed to be strong and that was something that we were able to accomplish," the 28-year-old Baker said. "Between the time that we were to compete in Japan and Russia, we committed to focusing on the specific things between elements to make sure that our transitions were solid. Even in the four or five days between Russia and Croatia, we were able to focus on those details."
 
Once they returned home from their European events, Hawayek and Baker turned their attention to the 2022 U.S. Championships this week in Nashville. In that month, the duo leveraged their scores from Russia and Croatia as a tool to reveal where improvements in their programs could be made.
 
"We have been putting a lot of attention on our rhythm dance so that we can improve our levels—especially the Blues section," Baker explained. "We've reworked a few of the transitions here and there and we've worked to open up the second part of the program to make it more comfortable."
 
In Nashville, Hawayek and Baker are looking to earn their first Olympic team berth, and they hope that they can tap into their experience as a team and trust in each other can propel them to a trip to Beijing.
 
"It's super exciting that it is an Olympic season, but I wouldn't say that there is any more pressure than any other year at the U.S. Championships," Baker said. "I think most athletes would say that this is one of the most stressful events because it's on home soil and you want to do your best. We've been here before, and we have overcome a lot this season which has built a lot of trust between Kaitlin and me. We're allowing that trust to take a leading force in our approach—we have trained very hard and very strategically to be able to give it our best shot."

Fans can watch the action this week in Nashville on NBC and USA, as well as live and on-demand on Peacock Premium. Visit the 2022 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Virtual Fan Experience for a behind-the-scenes look at the event.