Romain Haguenauer (born 16 July 1976) is a French ice dancing coach, choreographer, and former competitor. He is best known for his work with the French five-time World and 2022 Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron; and with Canadian three-time World champions and two-time Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. He has also coached the top-ranking American teams of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

Personal life

Haguenauer was born on 16 July 1976 in Lyon, France. His mother, an elementary school teacher, and father, a lawyer, raised him in Ainay. After graduating in 1998 from Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 with a degree in sports and physical education (Capes d'éducation physique et sportive), he taught for a year at a secondary school, collège Jean-Monnet. In 2017, Haguenauer married Jamal Othman, a former Swiss figure skater. Their son, Noam Camille Othman Haguenauer, was born in November 2022.

Competitive career

Haguenauer was coached from the age of five by Muriel Boucher-Zazoui and competed with his sister, Marianne Haguenauer, for ten years. They placed eighth at the 1995 World Junior Championships in November 1994 in Budapest and won gold at the 1995 Ondrej Nepela Memorial. Due to his sister's health issues, he retired from competition at age 20. He had no regrets, as he had a strong interest in coaching.

Results with Marianne Haguenauer

GP: Champions Series (Grand Prix)

Post-competitive career

Haguenauer worked as a part-time skating coach before becoming a certified coach in 1999. He has also served as a technical executive for the Pôle de Lyon. He has co-authored a children's book about skating, Le p'tit ABC du patinage, with Alexandre Navarro. Haguenauer was formerly based in Lyon, France, working as a coach and choreographer in collaboration with Zazoui. In July 2014, he moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and began coaching alongside Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, at Ice Academy of Montreal. His current students include: His former students include: f*🇨🇦 Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon Haguenauer has also choreographed programs for singles skaters, such as Alban Préaubert, Sonia Lafuente, and Donovan Carrillo.

Controversies

The coaches of the Ice Academy of Montreal (IAM), including Haguenauer, have received criticism from skating fans online regarding the treatment of some of their students. In a 2022 French documentary about French Olympic champion ice dancers and IAM pupils, Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron, titled Le couple de feu, Papadakis claimed to have unexpectedly gotten pregnant around the same time that the 2021 World Championships took place. She said that as an elite athlete, this made her feel intense feelings of guilt. Two weeks following the discovery, Papadakis informed her coaching team at the Ice Academy of Montreal about her situation. She alleges that they were unsympathetic and simply told her to "deal with it and come back," making her feel as though she had no other choice but to have an abortion performed on her. Papadakis stated that this incident had a severe impact on her mental health. In fall 2023, Danish-Canadian ice dancer, Nikolaj Sørensen, a long-time student of the IAM, was investigated by Canada's Sport Integrity Commissioner for the alleged sexual assault of an American figure skating coach and former skater in 2012. American journalist Christine Brennan would report this in USA Today days before the 2024 Canadian Championships. As a result, Sørensen and his partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, would withdraw from those national championships, however, they were still assigned to compete at the 2024 Four Continents Championships and the 2024 World Championships, attracting outrage and media attention. Despite this, Fournier Beaudry/Sørensen's coaching team continued to stand by them with Marie-France Dubreuil even giving an interview shortly before the World Championships, saying, "These are allegations that have left no one indifferent. It has turned a lot of lives upside down. Nik continues to follow the investigation process and respects to the letter [what is asked of him]. It is not up to us to judge and discriminate. For him, for Laurence, for everyone, it was a big shock." In October 2024, Sørensen would be found guilty by Canada's Sport Integrity Commissioner of sexual maltreatment and six-year suspension was ultimately issued by Skate Canada. In November 2024, French-Estonian ice dancer and IAM trainee, Solène Mazingue gave an interview, alleging that she had been sexually assaulted by Russian-American ice dancer, Ivan Desyatov, while in Zagreb, Croatia for the annual Golden Spin of Zagreb competition in December 2023. She would accuse the IAM coaches of not taking her claims seriously, alleging that she had confided in Dubreuil and detailed what had happened to her. Mazingue further alleged that Dubreuil promised to report the incident to SkateSafe and the leaders of Team USA. However, this was not followed through for the U.S. Center for SafeSport did not receive any report about the alleged incident until September 2024, which Mazingue filed herself. This would result in Desyatov being suspended from competing indefinitely one month later.