--- title: Alex and Maia Shibutani Are Sibling Goals at 2018 Olympics description: Alex and Maia Shibutani brought their A-game to the short program portion of the ice dancing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics. canonical: https://time.com/5165256/olympics-2018-alex-maia-shibutani-2018-ice-dancing/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-19T05:08:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-15T18:37:02.000Z og:title: Alex and Maia Shibutani Just Proved They Are Sibling Goals og:description: The Shib sibs are a force to be reckoned with og:url: https://time.com/5165256/olympics-2018-alex-maia-shibutani-2018-ice-dancing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2593fa1dc0b9be21/69892828656a3fa4c4bd3975/maia-alex-shibutani1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Maia-Alex-Shibutani-Ice-Dancing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alex and Maia Shibutani Just Proved They Are Sibling Goals twitter:description: The Shib sibs are a force to be reckoned with twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2593fa1dc0b9be21/69892828656a3fa4c4bd3975/maia-alex-shibutani1.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alex and Maia Shibutani Just Proved They Are Sibling Goals at the 2018 Olympics > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=927b28c8-30fc-41bf-b5da-53c4df5955e1&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Meet Team USA: Alex and Maia Shibutani [Watch (HLS stream): Meet Team USA: Alex and Maia Shibutani](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7TtI44wy.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2018-01-29. Get to know Team USA ice dancers Alex and Maia Shibutani._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:37 PM UTCPublished: Feb 19, 2018 5:08 AM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Updated: Jan 15, 2026 6:37 PM UTCPublished: Feb 19, 2018 5:08 AM UTC After charming fans with an impressive routine during the team skating event of the [2018 Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5143796/winter-olympic-medals-by-country-2018/), [Alex and Maia Shibutani ](http://time.com/5155292/maia-alex-shibutani-skating-siblings-olympics-2018/)— a.k.a. the Shib sibs —brought their A-game to the short program portion of the [ice dancing competition](http://time.com/5131461/ice-dance-olympics-2018-how-to-watch/). Dubbed the “King and Queen of Twizzles” by [NBC commentator Tara Lipinski](http://time.com/5141622/tara-lipinski-johnny-weir-throwing-shade-winter-olympics-2018/), the American brother-sister duo wowed with a series of the synchronized rotating turns during their Sunday performance in PyeongChang. They earned an overall score of 77.73 — with a 40.33 in technical and a 37.40 in presentation— giving them a short-lived first place ranking. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/965432298316419077) The Shibs were bested shortly afterward by Canada’s Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, whose captivating routine garnered a 83.67 from the judges. However, the siblings still seemed pleased with their efforts. “That was the Olympic performance we were looking for,” Maia told NBC following the skate. “Right now I just feel really proud,” Alex added. “We had a lot of fun out there. It was awesome.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I remember watching the Olympics on our living room when we were kids. But, probably the first memory I have of watching skating was the Salt Lake games. Before Maia was born, I would watch the Olympics with our parents. I think we have a home video of me running around in a little circle pretending that I was Dan Jansen So yeah I think the olympic have a pretty noteworthy impact on me from a very young age. If you are not comfortable with it you can put Mia down. Balance position for us. Okay stay there as long as you like. Okay. I dont mind that either. Hours. We are in the best shape that we've every. Been in heading into the Olympics, and that's taken a lot of work. And I think the value and the thing that goes unnoted a lot of the time with ice dance is that not only are the things that we're doing very difficult, but we have to make them look incredibly easy. Focused, keep looking at him, I know it's hard. It's very involved. To learn something new in our sport. With our discipline of ice dancers really such a blend of technical skill, but then also creativity and artistry. So for us, whenever we're coming up with anything, we make sure we put in a lot of thought and a lot of work. But it usually really pays off. Yeah, one of the things that we've really loved about our sport is that, in a way, every year we're coming up with something new. There are skills that you develop from the very A young age and those carry you to the point that we're at now. But now that we're really trying to reach our highest potential, we're always trying something new, we're always challenging ourselves. And that's really exciting. It's nice to be able to try new things and feel like we're growing. 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