Maia Shibutani

American ice dancer Maia Shibutani was born in New York City on July 20, 1994, the daughter of Chris and Naomi Shibutani. She began skating at the age of 4, originally training and competing as a single skater at various events until she and her family attended the World Championships in 2003 in Washington, D.C., where she and her older brother, Alex, were impressed by the ice dancers. He and Maia teamed up to train as an ice-dancing pair, competing first in the 2004-05 season. They won the 2005 North Atlantic Regional Championships, which qualified them to compete in the U.S. Junior Championships that same year, where they took the silver medal. In 2005-2006, they moved to compete in the intermediate level, and also moved personally to Colorado Springs for training with Patti Gottwein. They won the Southwestern Regional Championships, which qualified them to compete in the 2006 U.S. Junior Championships, where they won the overall title. Season by season the pair continued to advance, until the 2008-09 season, when they became age-eligible to compete in the junior circuit. They made their international debut at the ISU Junior Grand Prix, where they won gold in their first event and silver in their second, which qualified them to compete in the 2009 U.S. Championships. In 2010 the pair moved to senior-level competition, finishing second at the U.S. Nationals and the silver medal at the Four Continents competition. They continued to win events, earning medals and trophies culminating in the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships, where they earned the silver medal. In 2017 the pair earned a second national title at the U.S. Championships and a bronze at the 2017 World Championships in Finland, and in January 2018 they qualifed for the U.S. Olympic team, representing the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Once in PyeongChang, the Shibutani siblings brought home the bronze medal for the U.S. in the ice dance event.