Kaitlin Hawayek was born in Buffalo, New York.[2] She is the daughter of Jon and Kirstin Hawayek and has two brothers, Bradley and Nathan.[3] Before moving to Detroit, she attended Nardin Academy High School. She is interested in neuroscience.[4] Both of her brothers play ice hockey.[5] She has been based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, since moving for training purposes in 2018.
Career
Early years
Hawayek was introduced to ice skating by her mother in 1999.[2][5] She was initially a single skater and represented the Skating Club of Western New York in her early career, coached by Janice Smith and Jessica Lauria. After switching to ice dancing, she teamed up with Michael Bramante in June 2010.[6] They won the novice bronze medal at the 2011 U.S. Championships. The following season, Hawayek/Bramante competed at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events and finished sixth on the junior level at the 2012 U.S. Championships. They parted ways at the end of the season.
Hawayek/Baker began their season at an ISU Challenger Series event, the 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy. They finished fourth after placing fourth in the short and third in the free dance. Their Grand Prix assignments were the 2014 Rostelecom Cup and 2014 NHK Trophy, winning the bronze medal at the latter.[8]
2015–16 season
Baker sustained a concussion when Hawayek accidentally struck him with her arm in September 2015, just before the Labor Day weekend.[9][10] He returned to limited training after two weeks and full training a week later.[9]
Hawayek/Baker finished fourth at the 2015 Skate America. Due to food poisoning, Hawayek vomited eight times in four hours during the night before the short dance at the 2015 Cup of China.[10] After competing in the first segment, the duo decided to withdraw. They placed fifth at the 2016 U.S. Championships.
Hawayek/Baker won the pewter medal at the 2018 U.S. Championships and were assigned to the 2018 Four Continents Championships as the top three teams were sent to the 2018 Winter Olympics. They won the gold medal at Four Continents, finishing 9.33 points ahead of silver medalists Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus. Baker remarked, "it was really awesome; it was a new experience for us. We’ve medaled at junior events and sporadically at senior events in Grand Prixs or senior Bs. It was a really cool experience, and we hope to do it more often in the future."[11]
Baker sustained a concussion during training in August 2018, and as a result, they withdrew from the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy.[13] At their first Grand Prix assignment, the 2018 NHK Trophy, the withdrawal of Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron due to injury left several teams competing for the gold medal. Hawayek/Baker came second in the rhythm dance, behind Tiffany Zahorski / Jonathan Guerreiro, but narrowly placed first in the free dance, winning the title overall. Hawayek called it "just such a pleasure and honor to be here performing" and was especially pleased with their results, given they "had just three weeks of training fully recovered" prior.[14] They placed only fourth at the 2018 Internationaux de France, but their results qualified them for the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, where they placed sixth.
At the 2019 U.S. Championships, Hawayker/Baker won the bronze medal. Reflecting on their move to Montreal, Hawayek called it "a great training center that we’re happy to be a part of. It makes us feel able to skate more openly and freely, and I think we’ll continue that for the next few years."[15] They were assigned to the 2019 Four Continents Championships, where they finished fifth, and the 2019 World Championships, where they placed ninth.
2019–20 season
Beginning the season at the 2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Hawayek/Baker placed fourth in the rhythm dance but took the silver medal overall after coming second in the free dance.
For their first Grand Prix assignment, they competed at 2019 Skate Canada International, where they were third after the rhythm dance.[16] In the free dance, they dropped behind the British team Fear/Gibson.[17] Competing at the 2019 Cup of China, Hawayek/Baker placed fifth in the rhythm dance after struggling on the Finnstep pattern dance.[18] Several errors in the free dance kept them in fifth in that segment as well, and overall.[19]
Hawayek/Baker placed third in the rhythm dance at the 2020 U.S. Championships and praised the crowd reception of their Saturday Night Fever program.[20] Third in the free dance, they also won their second national bronze medal.[21]
At the 2020 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, they placed seventh in the rhythm dance after a double fall out of their dance lift, which Hawayek described as "a fluke thing that happened."[22] Fifth in the free dance, they rose to sixth place overall.[23] They were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[24]
2020–21 season
With the pandemic ongoing, Hawayek and Baker opted to return to live with Hawayek's parents in Buffalo, New York for the early months and were able to do some on-ice training when the rink in Buffalo was reopened as an essential workers' daycare, communicating with their coaches over Zoom. After quarantine, they returned to Montreal in June and rejoined their coaches at the Ice Academy of Montreal in July.[25] With the Grand Prix assigned based mainly on training location, Hawayek/Baker nevertheless were assigned to the 2020 Skate America in Las Vegas and crossed the border again to attend.[26] They won the silver medal.[27]
Returning to the United States again for the 2021 U.S. Championships, also held in Las Vegas, Hawayek/Baker placed third in the rhythm dance.[28] They were also third in the free dance, taking their third consecutive bronze medal.[29] They were assigned to the American team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.[30] They placed eleventh in the rhythm dance and rose to ninth overall after the free dance.[31][32]
Hawayek/Baker were chosen as America's dance entry in the 2021 World Team Trophy and finished third in both segments, while Team USA won the silver medal.[33][34][35]
2021–22 season: Beijing Olympics
For the Olympic season, the duo opted for a free program to Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in E minor and Nocturne in E minor, music that Hawayek said she had long dreamed of skating to, saying that "there is a lot of maturity and depth in this music. There is nostalgia, hopefulness, and happiness. I envisioned something that was not too heavy but also not too youthful."[36]
Hawayek/Baker entered the 2022 U.S. Championships seeking to make up ground on the previous year's pewter medalists, Green/Parsons, who had enjoyed a strong fall season while Hawayek/Baker were absent and recovering. Both teams made twizzle errors in the rhythm dance, with Hawayek/Baker in fourth place, 1.46 points behind Green/Parsons. Delivering a strong free dance, they were third in that segment and took their fourth consecutive bronze medal. She said afterward that "this means so much to us. It has not been a straight journey to this for us whatsoever over the last four years, especially over the last six months."[37] The following day, they were named to their first American Olympic team.[38]
Competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the dance event, Hawayek/Baker placed eleventh in the rhythm dance. For Hawayek, it was "an absolute joy to perform out there."[39] They were tenth in the free dance, remaining in eleventh overall.[40]
Hawayek and Baker enlisted Italian choreographer Massimo Scali to work on their rhythm dance for the new season, a program of Desi Arnaz's music inspired by Arnaz's dynamic with Lucille Ball. For the free dance, they chose music by Norwegian singer Askjell, citing his "very modern-day take on the essence of classical music."[43]
The team made their season debut at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, where they finished second behind Canadian training partners Fournier Beaudry/Sørensen.[44] Hawayek/Baker then began the Grand Prix at the 2022 Skate America, winning the silver medal and notably finishing first in the free dance due to technical errors by American gold medalists Chock/Bates. They finished 0.73 points behind Chock/Bates overall.[45] Hawayek was body shamed by an audience member after the free dance and went public to protest this attitude toward female skaters.[46] At their second assignment, the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, Hawayek and Baker finished second in the rhythm dance, clearing the 80-point threshold for the first time with a score of 80.93.[47] They finished second in the free dance as well, taking their second Grand Prix silver medal and qualifying to the Grand Prix Final.[48][49]
Appearing at the Final in Turin, they were sixth of the six teams in the rhythm dance but rose to fifth place after Fournier Beaudry/Sørensen dropped following a fall in the free dance. Baker said they were "thrilled" with their performance but disappointed with their marks, vowing to "continue to build for our next events."[50]
On January 17, Hawayek/Baker announced that they were withdrawing from the 2023 U.S. Championships, saying that they had been dealing with "with significant physical injuries that have led to challenges in our mental health and we feel it is in our best interest to prioritize this currently." They said that they would petition to be included on the World Championship team on the strength of their results that season and in years prior.[51] Following the U.S. Championships, U.S. Figure Skating approved their petition, and they were announced as part of the World team on January 29.[52] However, on February 24 it was announced that they had withdrawn to further prioritize "their healing and mental health." They were replaced by Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.[53]
2023–24 season
Hawayek and Baker were assigned to the 2023 Grand Prix de France and 2023 NHK Trophy. However, they withdrew from those events on October 23 and October 25 due to Baker suffering a concussion.[54]
On January 15, Hawayek announced that they had "made the tough decision to take a step back from competing for the remainder of the season and reevaluate our options for future seasons."[55]
