Hawayek and Baker ‘exploring passions’ away from ice
Hawayek/Baker haven’t competed since the first half of the 2022-23 season, when they finished the Grand Prix Series with a fifth-place effort at the elite GP Final. Ahead of the US Championships that year they withdrew citing their mental health, doing so several weeks later, opting out of the 2023 World Championships.
It was the summer before the Olympic season, in July of 2021, that Hawayek suffered a horrible concussion herself, needing stiches after an accident in practice.
It was so bad for months after that Hawayek says: “I wasn’t able to read for more than like five or ten minutes.”
But as the duo forged through the Olympic season and part of the next, they were continuing to put their bodies at risk. And the rest of their lives on hold.
“We’re still skating together; we’re doing a couple shows in the spring,” says Hawayek, explaining that Baker has been traveling to coach, too. “[We’re thinking] about what we’ve liked about our career, what we would do differently. And from there, I think we’ll have a better idea of how we see our role within competitive skating developing in the next two seasons. We’re not closing the door to anything, just giving ourselves the time today to explore our passions.”
One of those passions for Hawayek is a hobby that has turned into a high-profile side-gig. She started doing outdoor events as Montreal was emerging from the pandemic, then got asked to do Formula 1 when it arrived in the city.
She even opened for Diplo.
“It kind of snowballed from there,” Hawayek says about her deejaying, as she added new equipment to her set about learning how to use every bell and whistle.
“It’s an art and it’s a great form of creative expression, which is definitely something that I look for in all aspects of my life,” she says. “I’ve also mixed several of our programs that we’ve competed for, [including] the rhythm dance that we did at the Olympics; I actually mixed that myself. So it’s very cool in hindsight to be able to say I had a big part in what we performed to.”