US ice dancers Alex and Maia Shibutani come out of retirement with an eye on 2026 Olympics
The Shib Sibs are making a comeback with an eye on more Olympic figure skating medals.
The popular brother-sister ice dance team of Alex and Maia Shibutani announced Thursday they will return to competition this season in the hopes of making the loaded American squad for the next year's Milan-Cortina Games.
The 34-year-old Alex and the 30-year-old Maia have skated together most of their lives, and for a long stretch were the dominant U.S. ice dancers. They are three-time world medalists and two-time Olympians, finishing ninth at the 2014 Sochi Games and third at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, where they also were part of the American squad that won a team bronze medal.
The Shibutanis stepped away from competition after those Olympics, choosing to focus on school and other interests. They have authored four children's books and worked as choreographers and ambassadors for diversity and representation.
They extended their hiatus when Maia Shibutani was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on her kidney in 2019. She underwent surgery to remove the mass, and additional treatment resulted in a long, painful recovery.
'These past seven years have challenged and inspired us in ways we never expected,' Maia Shibutani said. 'I'm so happy and grateful to be healthy and in a position to make the decision to return to the sport I love in this way.'
The Shibutanis continued to skate in exhibitions over the years, and they remained close to the Olympic movement, albeit in a different way. Last summer, Alex Shibutani worked as a photographer and Maia Shibutani did media work at the Paris Olympics, where U.S. figure skaters were finally awarded their team gold medals from the 2022 Beijing Games.
Now, the Shibutanis hope to be on the next American squad headed to the Olympics.
They will be training with longtime coach Marina Zoueva and Massimo Scali, who recently helped Alysa Liu return from her own brief retirement to win the first women's world title for a U.S. figure skater in nearly two decades.
It won't be easy for the Shibutanis to make the team for the Milano-Cortina Games. Madison Chock and Evan Bates just won their third consecutive ice dance world title and will be prohibitive favorites to stand atop the Olympic podium, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were fifth at worlds and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons were ninth.
During Elections
Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election.
The U.S. has qualified the maximum three ice dance teams for the Winter Games, which means someone will be left out.
'As Olympic medalists and U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Famers, it's incredibly exciting to have Maia and Alex return to competition next season,' said Justin Dillon, the senior director of athlete high performance for U.S. Figure Skating.
'They are strong ambassadors for the sport, both on and off the ice. Their comeback adds to the excitement surrounding Team USA after a very successful year and makes the team stronger as we look toward the Olympic season.'
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
37 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
US Open '25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' With or without trees, Oakmont has stood the test of time Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses, which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016). In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' — won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason' While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot, which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd,' Scheffler told Horvat. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. How well that critique applies to Oakmont will be seen this week. ___ AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. ___ AP golf:
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
All-time great wrestler Hakuho quits Japan Sumo Association with plans to form global body
TOKYO (AP) — Hakuho, a retired 'yokozuna' or grand champion and viewed by many as the sport's greatest wrestler, quit the Japan Sumo Association on Monday after an apparent falling out with the governing body of the ancient sport. The Mongolia-born Hakuho was earlier sanctioned by the Japan Sumo Association, accused of failing to control the behavior of a wrestler in his so-called stable, the term used for a training team headed by retired wrestlers. Hakuho's stable was closed a year ago. Japanese media reports say the wrestler in question engaged in physical violence. But closing a stable, instead of just punishing an individual wrestler, was unusual. He did not directly criticize the professional Japan Sumo Association, but he said wrestlers who had trained under him were treated unfairly. Hakuho, who was granted Japanese citizenship, said he had been in talks with the association but recently decided to quit because there was no hope of reopening his stable. His farewell and future 'After 25 years of loving sumo and being loved by sumo, I want to advance toward a new dream,' Hakuho told reporters Monday at a Tokyo hotel. Hakuho said he wants to create a body to govern sumo outside Japan — the 'world sumo project.' 'When I think of my situation, I think it's best to contribute to sumo from the outside,' he said, wearing a dark suit and referring to the Japan Sumo Association. Appearing with a lawyer and other officials he had tapped for his team, Hakuho said they were getting corporate sponsors to back sumo grand slams, which draw amateur sumo wrestlers from around the world, including children and women. Hakuho said he was friends with Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Akio Toyoda, who has expressed interest in supporting his efforts. Toyota already supports various amateur and professional sports activities. Many regard the Mongolia-born Hakuko as the greatest champion in the sport's history and he holds many of its records. Hahuko's late-father, who went by the given name of Monkhbat, was an Olympic silver medalist for Mongolia in 1968. He also competed in at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Sumo encompasses very strict rules and traditions that have prompted other top wrestlers to pursue careers outside the sport. Hahuko retired from active wrestling in 2021. ___ AP sports:
Winnipeg Free Press
11 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
CP NewsAlert: Ryan Fox wins RBC Canadian Open
CALEDON – Ryan Fox of Auckland, New Zealand wins the RBC Canadian Open in a four-hole playoff with American Sam Burns. More coming.
