The brother-sister team of Alex and Maia Shibutani came up big Monday to win a bronze medal in the ice dancing competition of the Olympics.
The Shib Sibs, as they are known on social media, were thrilled with their performance, beaming as they finished. The judges agreed, giving them a score of 192.59, a combined total of Sunday’s short program of 77.73 and today’s free skate score of 114.86. For a brief moment, that was enough to vault the Japanese American siblings into first place.
In the past, Alex, 26, and Maia, 23, have felt they were scored too low by international judges, That included Monday’s crisp short program.
The Shibutani’s first-place position was short-lived however as France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron skated a beautiful, elegant program scored 123.35, the highest score of the night to take over the top spot when combined with their short program score of 81.93.
But even their high score was not enough as Canada’s team of favorites Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, skating last, scored enough to recapture first place with a total score of 206.07.
The other two U.S. teams of Madison Chock and Evan Bates and the duo of Zachary Donohue and Madison Hubbell, suffered mishaps during their routines, hurting their chances to medal.
The Shibutani’s, who surprised everyone when they finished in the top ten in Sochi four years ago, achieved their goal of being on the podium in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The brother and sister medal winners, who skate out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, are still young enough to take part in the 2022 Olympics in China.
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