Adrián Díaz
Adrián Díaz is a Spanish ice dancer who skates with Olivia Smart. With former partner Sara Hurtado, he is a four-time Spanish national champion and has won four senior international medals. Hurtado and Diaz were the first dance team to represent Spain in ISU competition and the first to qualify for the Olympics.
Personal life
Adrián Díaz was born 17 September 1990 in Barcelona. He studied sports science at university. He formerly competed as Adrià Díaz but prefers to be called Adrián or Adri. He began dating American ice dancer Madison Hubbell in 2014. The couple announced their engagement in April 2018.Skating career
Early years
Díaz started skating in 1995. After skating in singles, he became interested in switching to ice dancing in 2006, and asked a fellow single skater, Sara Hurtado, to go with him to a summer camp organized by the Spanish federation with French coach Romain Haguenauer. Hurtado said, "We begged the Federation for two years, please, please, we want to do ice dance." In early 2008, FEDH hired British coach John Dunn to teach ice dancing in Madrid.2008–2009 season: Debut of Hurtado/Díaz
Hurtado/Díaz began competing together internationally in the 2008–09 season. Their first major international event was the 2009 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where they finished 32nd.2009–2010 season
Hurtado/Díaz competed in two events on the Junior Grand Prix circuit and finished 16th at the 2010 World Junior Championships in The Hague, Netherlands.2010–2011 season
Hurtado/Díaz competed on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, while also taking part in several senior internationals. They finished 15th at the 2011 European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, won a bronze medal at the Bavarian Open, and finished fourth at the Winter Universiade.They placed ninth at the World Junior Championships in Gangneung, South Korea. They then competed in Moscow, Russia, at their first senior World Championships; although the two qualified for the short dance out of the preliminary round, they were unable to reach the free dance portion of the event.
2011–2012 season
Hurtado/Díaz moved to London, England, in mid-2011 after Dunn accepted a coaching job in his native country. In November, they competed at their first-ever Grand Prix event, the 2011 Trophée Éric Bompard, where they placed 8th. In December 2011, they ended their relationship with Dunn and relocated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to train under Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.Ranked 12th in the short dance and 17th in the free dance, Hurtado/Díaz finished 16th at the 2012 European Championships in Sheffield, England. They qualified to the free dance at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France, and finished 19th overall.
2012–2013 season
Hurtado/Díaz did not compete on the Grand Prix series. They placed 15th at the 2013 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, and 19th at the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario, Canada.2013–2014 season: Sochi Olympics
At the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, Hurtado/Díaz became the first ice dancers to qualify an Olympic entry for Spain. They had no Grand Prix assignments. In January 2014, they finished 10th at the 2014 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, allowing Spain to send two ice dancing teams to the next Europeans.One month later, Hurtado/Díaz competed at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia; they set personal best scores in both segments and finished in 13th place. They ended their season with a 16th-place result at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama.
2014–2015 season
Returning to the Grand Prix series, Hurtado/Díaz placed 8th at the 2014 Skate Canada International and 4th at the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard. They then achieved career-best ISU Championship results, finishing 5th with a new personal best score at the 2015 European Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, and then 14th at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, China.2015–2016 season: Hurtado/Díaz part ways
Hurtado/Díaz were invited to two Grand Prix events – the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard and the 2015 Rostelecom Cup. However, on 16 October 2015, Hurtado announced on her personal Facebook page that she had decided to end the partnership. In a later interview, Hurtado stated that their partnership had experienced problems for some time and that therapy had not helped resolve these issues.2015–2016 season: Teaming up with Smart
On 13 December 2015, it was announced that Díaz would represent Spain with British ice dancer Olivia Smart and that they would train in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. On 15 January 2016, Smart announced that the British skating association had released her.2016–2017 season: Debut of Smart/Díaz
Making their international debut, Smart/Díaz took silver behind Elliana Pogrebinsky / Alex Benoit at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International in late July 2016. They later competed at three ISU Challenger Series events, placing 4th at the 2016 U.S. International Classic, 6th at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International, and 6th at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy, before winning gold at the Open d'Andorra.Smart/Díaz finished second to Sara Hurtado / Kirill Khaliavin at the Spanish Championships. As a result, they were not nominated for the 2017 European Championships.
In February, Smart/Díaz took silver at the Bavarian Open. Later that month, Federación Española Deportes de Hielo selected them to compete at the 2017 World Championships, the main Olympic-qualifying competition. The two placed 16th in the short dance, 19th in the free dance, and 18th overall at the event in Helsinki, Finland. Their result allowed Spain to send one ice dancing team to the Olympics.
2017–2018 season
In July 2017, FEDH announced that Spain's Olympic spot would go to the team which received the highest combined score at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb and Spanish Championships.Smart/Díaz began their season on the Challenger Series, placing 7th at the 2017 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic and 4th at the 2017 Autumn Classic International. Making their Grand Prix debut, the two placed 6th at the 2017 Skate Canada International in October. In December, they placed 5th at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, scoring 4.18 points less than Hurtado/Khaliavin. Later that month, they won the Spanish national title by a 3.23 point margin, resulting in a final deficit of 0.95 points. On 17 December 2017, FEDH announced that Hurtado/Khaliavin would compete at the European Championships and Olympics while Smart/Díaz would be assigned to the 2018 World Championships. They finished 12th at the event in Milan, Italy.
2018–2019 season
Smart/Díaz began their season at the Autumn Classic International Challenger Series event where they placed second behind Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje. At the onset of the 2018–19 season, they were assigned to two Grand Prix events, the Skate Canada and Internationaux de France, finishing fifth at the former and seventh at the latter.After winning the silver medal at the Spanish Championships, finishing behind Hurtado/Khaliavin, they placed eighth at the 2019 European Championships.
2019–2020 season
Smart/Díaz began the season with a victory at the 2019 Lake Placid Ice Dance International, and then placed fourth at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International. At their first Grand Prix assignment, 2019 Skate America, they placed fourth, with three new personal bests set. Smart/Díaz concluded the Grand Prix with another fourth-place finish at the 2019 Internationaux de France.Programs
With Smart
With Hurtado
| Season | Short dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
| 2015–2016 | performed by Nina Simone ---- by Sonny Thompson performed by Etta James by Willie Dixon performed by Etta James |
| |
| 2014–2015 |
choreo. by Antonio Najarro |
by Dario Marianelli
|
---- by Richard Robbins
|
| 2013–2014 |
by Tim Draxl
|
| |
| 2012–2013 |
| by Stevie Ray Vaughan | |
| 2011–2012 | by Sergio Mendes
| by Maxime Rodriguez | |
| 2010–2011 | by Daniel Diges ----
|
performed by Fergie | |
| Original dance | |||
| 2009–2010 |
| ||
| 2008–2009 | by Glenn Miller
|