LeDuc and Cain are quite a pair! (Photo courtesy Robin Ritoss)

Out North Texas-based figure skater Tim LeDuc and his pairs partner Ashley Cain are heating up the ice

Despite the misconception that figure skating is super gay, the actual, competitive skating world is a conservative one with precious few out athletes. At the Winter Olympic Games earlier this year, there were only two openly gay skaters: Canadian pairs champion Eric Radford and America’s own Adam Rippon.

But you don’t have to look further than North Texas to find out pairs figure skater Timothy LeDuc who, with his partner Ashley Cain, are representin’ for equality on and off the ice.

Autumn has been more than just a whacked whirlwind for the twosome. In just one week they achieved twin wins on the International Skating Union’s Challenger Series, taking home their first international gold medal at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City (Sept. 14), then whipping around the world to grab gold at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in Bratislava, Slovakia (Sept. 21).

That’s enough to make you flutz your lutz. But Cain and LeDuc did a quick hair flip and booked it back from Europe to Euless, where they train. (Coaches Darlene and Peter Cain — Ashley’s mother and father — have built their program into a well-known elite facility at Dr Pepper Star Center that attracts top-tier skaters from around the world.) But despite the flurry of achievement, they took just two recovery days before heading right back into training. This season, U.S. Figure Skating awarded Cain and LeDuc two plum assignments on the prestigious Grand Prix circuit. First up — starting Oct. 19 — is the highly coveted Skate America title in Everett, Wash.

Although still a new team (they began their partnership in May 2016), Cain and LeDuc are no longer the rookies. Since winning bronze medals at the 2017 U.S.

Nationals and placing fourth at the 2018 competition this past January, they immediately took Silver at the Four Continents Championships in Taipei City and were on the reserve list for the PyeongChang Olympics and 2018 Worlds. They haven’t stopped since.

With two new gold medals this season and added recognition on the international scene, Cain and LeDuc are ready to up the ante going into the Grand Prix competitions.

“We’re really excited going into Skate America” LeDuc says. “We’ve had a great season so far. Our names are out there, and we’re confident with our programs. We want to keep the season building, and we really think we can bring home two medals at both our events.”

Cain is also feeling good about the program elements. “I’m so happy with where our jumps are” she says. “At the last two competitions we’ve hit them all and done them like we practiced. We do not want to miss our jumps.”

With so many hours training and competing, what do they miss? For Cain it isn’t romance. She was recently engaged to a model-handsome young man who works in the oil industry. Somehow, with all the travel and busy schedules, plans are moving ahead for the June wedding. And LeDuc won’t be left out. He’ll be right there… as a bridesmaid!

LeDuc’s life off-ice takes him in another direction. “This year I’ve spent a lot of my free time volunteering,” he says. “DFW Fuse is a program of the Resource Center and I’m one of their core-group volunteers. We have programming six days a week. It’s an empowerment program for boys who like boys ages 18 to 29 and focuses on safer sex and finding a safe place in the community that is away from drugs and alcohol.”

A confident, out gay man who is also a competitive figure skater would have been verboten not so long ago. Rippon certainly left the 2018 Winter Games with a bronze medal and a burgeoning international fan base. He may have also helped kick open the closet door for other skaters. Team USA ice dancer Karina Manta recently came out as the “first queer woman to be an active competitor in figure skating,” says LeDuc, and “part of the first openly gay team in the sport.” Her partner, Joseph Johnson, is also openly gay and the team will be competing at Skate America. It’s doubtful there will be a gay wave sensed around the skating world, but, baby steps.

“There is more openness now” says Cain. “You can feel it at competitions.”

With a fierce ally in Cain, LeDuc has very definite ideas about engagement within the community. “To focus solely on gay liberation ignores the intersectionality of a lot of people. So to go after gay and queer liberation you have to also tackle racism and patriarchy and some of the capitalism that really pushes down queer people,” he says. “I’m just dipping my toe into the water, but activism is something I definitely want to become more involved with in the future.”

Cain and LeDuc are a true team, bringing beauty, brains and ability together in a seemingly perfect package. But they’re also fun and authentically goofy. The sport of figure skating is glam and glitz mixed with plenty of grit. After exhausting days at the rink, Cain and LeDuc often help themselves, and the other skaters, decompress with self-deprecating foolishness. A particularly popular method of letting off steam and thawing the ice? Perfecting a flawless runway walk. Shantay, you stay.

— Coy Covington

Watch Skate America on NBC and NBCSN. Check local listings.