For many figure skaters, winning an international competition is a big deal. For some, it happens all the time, while others may never reach the ability to do so.
Eva Pate and Logan Bye didn’t just win an international competition; they’ve done it twice, and their partnership came much later than the couples around them.
Pate and Bye’s partnership started in June 2019 when Pate was 19 and Bye was 21, but they started skating a lot earlier than that.
Pate’s first time on the ice came when she was five years old, when she attended a Girl Scout troop event at an ice rink in Strongsville, Ohio with her grandmother.
“I remember I couldn’t stand up and my grandma called my mom and told her that I was falling all over the place and slipping and sliding like Bambi,” Pate said. “Once she got there, I asked her for lessons because I was a competitive gymnast, so you know, my mom thought it would come easy to me to skate and it didn’t, so I really wanted to learn how and challenge myself.”
Meanwhile, Bye started skating at four years old to improve his skiing and ended up falling in love with the sport as time went on.
“My family and I had all skied, like we had season passes to be able to go to Breckenridge [Ski Resort] but a lot of times during the summer you obviously couldn’t do that,” Bye said. “So, I was skating more and more, and I think it was noticeable in the rink that I had some talent or at least something to be able to pursue and so it kind of just ended up being that I skated more.”
Even though the two started skating competitively, they both had different experiences before joining forces in June 2019.
Pate first competed in the US National Solo Dance Series from 2012-2017, medaling seven times.
“I remember getting nervous for solo dance competitions, just trying to work through my nerves,” Pate said. “But I really liked performing and that was my thing, but my ultimate goal was finding a partner.”
Bye competed with Chloe Lewis between 2010 and 2018. Together, they won the silver medal at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
Pate and Bye’s skating journey started in June 2019, when they first announced their partnership in the Ice Dance. The partnership came easy to them because they started dating in 2018 and got married on May 18, 2024.
Pate emphasized that the pair were already dating before their partnership and had similar mindsets towards figure skating and their relationship.
“For us, being on the same wavelength was easy cause we knew we would, but it was whether physically we matched and if we felt good on the ice when we started skating together,” Bye added. “From there it was like, well, it was a no-brainer.”
In their first season together, they only skated at the U.S National Championships, where they finished seventh. The following year, the pair placed seventh at both Skate America and Nationals.
But in the 2021-22 season, the pair received their first international podium, placing third at the U.S. Classic. They followed that up with three podiums, all second place finishes, at the Nepela Memorial, U.S. Classic and Lake Placid Ice Dance International.
Their breakout moment came at the Autumn Classic in the 2023-24 season, where they earned their first ever international gold medal.
“I remember when they announced that we were going to Montreal to compete, and I was really nervous and I was like, well, let’s just got for it, there’s nothing we can lose,” Pate said.
“I remember feeling really comfortable at that competition,” Bye said. “I think it helped me to feel more relaxed that I didn’t put a lot of pressure on myself and I didn’t have any expectations.”
Winning the Autumn Classic meant a lot to Pate and Bye.
“That was a big step for us because we were against pretty difficult teams,” Pate said. “When we got our score for our rhythm dance, I was so surprised and I had like the best reaction ever.”
“We have a digital photo frame, and it pops up every once in a while, and I’m like, oh, that was so nice,” Pate added.
The following year, Pate and Bye added two more third place finishes to their resume. In the 2025-26 season, they added a second Challenger Series win at the Lombardia Trophy in Bergamo, Italy, along with a win at the Ice Challenge.
“There was a team that skated after us and they were in front of us and when they said they were in second I started crying,” Pate said.
Pate and Bye’s days on the ice are long, often starting early and getting home late.
Their days normally start around 8:45 a.m., getting home around 6:30 p.m., with them spending around five and a half hours on the ice, coaching before and after.
Off the ice, Bye loves to cook, with his “signature” dish being a chicken piccata, while Pate loves the beef stew Bye has been making recently.
Bye also loves building LEGOs, with his go-to sets being Star Wars and Harry Potter. Most recently, he built a Mandalorian N1 Starfighter which is one of his favorites.
Pate also likes to build LEGOs. She recently built an R2D2, which is one of the first Lego sets she completed by herself.
On her free days, Pate loves to read; she has gotten really into fantasy books as of late.
This season, Pate and Bye placed 10th at the Nepela Memorial and sixth at the Grand Prix de France which tied their third best placing at a Grand Prix.
Their next competition is the Cup of China this weekend. The Rhythm Dance is on Friday, Nov. 6, at 1:45 a.m. EST. The Free Dance is on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1:30 a.m. EST. You can watch both events on Peacock or the ISU’s YouTube Channel.