Anyone currently experiencing an all-encompassing hyperfixation with the gay hockey romance series Heated Rivalry is probably dreading the impending season 1 finale, which will leave us without hour-long fixes of Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander for at least the next year. One choice fan coping mechanism has been to desperately seek out any real-life athlete love stories that even slightly reflect Ilya and Shane’s. It's allowed Heated Rivalry devotees to ground their obsession in reality, and channel their enthusiasm towards heartwarming non-fictional partnerships. And across various sports leagues, fans have found plenty of viable duos.
There are the now-married hockey players Julie Chu and Caroline Ouellette—former captains of the US and Canadian national teams who played against each other during multiple Olympic tournaments. There's also DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas, a WNBA power couple who faced off during last year's All-Star tournament. But you might notice one particular Shane and Ilya-esque story start to gain more attention over the next few months. And it's that of the married skeleton sliders Kim Meylemans and Nicole Silveira, who the entire world could see race against each other during next year's winter Olympics.
If you’re unfamiliar, skeleton’s a snow sport in which athletes race lying down, headfirst, on a sled. Kim and Nicole were two of the game's highest-ranking athletes when they met at the 2019 World Cup. They kept their relationship under the radar initially, which Nicole spoke about in a 2022 interview. “From the beginning, I wasn’t 100 percent sure that’s who I was and what I wanted. So it took me a while to finally be OK with it, I guess,” she told TODAY. “For a moment there, it was me hiding a lot of who I was and hiding Kim essentially from a lot of people and the closest people that I knew of us.”
They finally hard-launched their relationship in a December 2021 Instagram post (where they’re adorably kissing under a mistletoe). “Making that post was the biggest weight off my shoulders,” Nicole shared.
The couple faced off during the 2022 Winter Olympics (Kim competed for Belgium, while Nicole represented Brazil). But that was before Heated Rivalry’s global takeover, and this is now, when five-second-long clips of athletes who are not at all romantically involved but stand a little too close to each other get thrown into Heated Rivalry-inspired fancams. So who knows what’s to come of Kim and Nicole, an actually married couple who share plenty of similarities with our dear Ilya and Shane? Including, but not limited to:
- They’re some of the biggest names in their sport.
- They spent their early years together keeping their relationship under the radar.
- Both couples play winter sports. A minor detail, but a parallel nonetheless! And finally:
- They’re often forced to compete against each other on a global stage.
Per that final point, at the 2025 World Cup for skeleton earlier this year, they stood side-by-side on the winners' podium. (Kim took home the silver medal, and Nicole was given bronze.) “At the end of the day, we’re working as a team,” Kim said. “If one of us is on the podium, that’s great for both of us.”
They’ll likely go head-to-head again during the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, which they’re both projected to qualify for. But like our dear Ilya and Shane, they've said that competing against a loved one only enhances the experience. “It’s very special to be able to share [the] Olympic Games with your partner,” Kim explained in a 2022 interview. “It’s an extremely stressful, high-pressure period, so to have my person there as a comfort and safe space is of immense value to me, and also my performance. It brings a sense of calmness and normality into the [craziest] weeks of our career.”
And regardless of how they rank at the Winter Games, Kim and Nicole have something to look forward to: a large beach wedding ceremony they’ve planned for after the Olympics wrap up. On Instagram, they shared exactly why it was important for them to do a small civil ceremony pre-Olympics, and to head into the Winter Games married.
“With the Games being in Italy and the current Italian government making decisions/laws that hurt the LGBTQ+ community…it feels extra special to potentially compete as a married couple and shine a light on marriage equality while doing so,” they said in a joint post. “We’re still having our big dream beach wedding next year…We really love heading into this huge season and possibly last Olympic Games as spouses…no matter what curve balls this year and the challenges ahead will throw at us, our love comes first.”
