Olympic Figure Skating: Michigan's 'Shib Sibs' Skate To Medal

Ice dancers Alex and Maia Shibutani of Ann Arbor helped the United States secure a bronze medal in the figure skating team competition early Monday. The siblings took second place in the free skate program, with 112 points.

Their second place finish netted seven points for toward Team USA overall total score of 62.

"I'm speechless," said Maia in a report by US Figure Skating. "It's been such a journey for us, so much work. To experience this Olympic medal not just with each other, but also our friends and teammates, it's a great way to start our second Olympic Winter Games."

The performance by the Shibutani siblings came after women's skater and two-time Olympian Mirai Nagasu landed a triple axel during the women's competition. Nagasu earned nine points toward Team USA’s overall score of 62.

This is the second Olympics for Maia, 23, and Alex, 26; they finished 9th in Sochi Winter Games in 2014, and have won gold medals at the 2016 and 2017 U.S. National Championships. They won a silver medal at the 2016 world championships and a bronze medal at the 2017 world championships.

They also will compete in the Ice Dance competition, which starts with the short program competition on Monday, Feb. 19, and the long program competition (and the medals ceremony) on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

The Shibutani siblings are part of a big contingent of ice dancers from Michigan. Five of the six skaters that comprise the three pairs of American ice dancers are from the Great Lakes State.

Also competing in the ice dance competition on Feb. 19-20 is the current national champion duo of Madison Hubbell, 26, of Okemos, Michigan, and Zach Donohue, 27, of Madison, Connecticut. Together, they are four-time U.S. nationals bronze medalists. This is the pair’s first Olympic Games.

Rounding out the ice dance competitors is Evan Bates, 28, of Northville, and Madison Chock, 25, of Novi. This is Bates’ third Olympic Games and second paired with Chock, a two-time Olympian. Bates and Chock finished 8th in Sochi in 2014. Bates and Chock finished third at the recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Bates has been named captain for the U.S. Figure Skating team in PyeongChang.

The 2018 Olympic ice dance pairs are "an exceptionally strong group," writes Meryl Davis, who along with her ice dance partner Charlie White won gold at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014. "In fact, the collective strength of the three teams is nothing short of unprecedented."

The favorites to win gold medals in PyeongChang are Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, davis said. But the U.S. pairs each have a strong chance to win bronze and an outside chance to win silver or gold medals, she said.

The team event Ice Dance competition short program competition is at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 11. The long program competition is at 10:20 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 12, with the medals ceremony following.

The Ice Dance Competition short program is 9 pm. ET on Monday, Feb. 19, and the long program is at 9 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 20, with the medals ceremony following.

Here’s where to find the daily Olympics schedule of when athletes in Michigan compete, and here’s where to find results.

Photos: Lead image of Alex and Maia Shibutani by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.