Shibutanis tango to the lead

Maia Shibutani (SC of New York Inc) and Alex Shibutani (Arctic FSC) took the lead in the junior compulsory dance in Spokane tonight with 35.72 points, outdistancing their closest competitors by a little less than two points.
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When did Maia turn into a lady? Wow, she grew up fast since last year, but they still are adorable.

I'm surprised they are still competing Junior at the National level. I thought they would have skated Senior domestically this year.

Maia wasstill too young for seniors internationally, and last year they finished 2nd at nationals, so I think it made sense for them to compete as juniors this year.
She did not turn 15 till last July 20th.
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=38026&mode=P

I hope she will still grow a bit more. She is only 4'11' according to her bio.

dorispulaski said:

Maia wasstill too young for seniors internationally, and last year they finished 2nd at nationals, so I think it made sense for them to compete as juniors this year.
She did not turn 15 till last July 20th.
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=38026&mode=P

I hope she will still grow a bit more. She is only 4'11' according to her bio.

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I know they wouldn't compete Senior internationally. Just surprised they didn't skate Senior at Nationals and Junior internationally. It would have been good experience

Why rush up to seniors. They can't compete on the international level, and it is not like they can win. If they wait another year, Belbin and Agosto won't be competing anymore and they will enter as Junior National Champions and probably undefeated the season before.

Tinymavy15 said:

Why rush up to seniors. They can't compete on the international level, and it is not like they can win. If they wait another year, Belbin and Agosto won't be competing anymore and they will enter as Junior National Champions and probably undefeated the season before.

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The point isn't to win - it's to gain the experience of what Senior nationals are like so when they are contenders they don't get thrown off by the attention and pressure. I was just commenting on this because this is what a lot of the Canadian skaters do. For example, Ralph/Hill have skated Senior at the past two Senior Nationals, Crone and Poirier did it for a year I believe,Tessa and Scott did it for two years, Patrick did it, Joannie did it, Dube/Davison did it, Hole/Johnson, Jones/Gaskel, Kate Charboneau, and others all competed this way this year too.

Well, Ralph/Hill won Junior two years ago (if I'm correct)...so it made sense for them to move up to senior (nationally) last year.

Sure, the experience would be good for any team, but because they haven't won the junior title yet, it makes sense to me that they are competing junior again this year. That's not to say that they aren't ready to be seniors...I think if they were seniors, they could be very competitive for that Olympic spot (with Emily/Evan, Kim/Brent, Hubbells, and Madison/Greg). Besides, there probably wasn't enough time for them to work on a new compulsory dance (the Golden Waltz) as well as add 20-30 seconds to their free dance (in order to compete as seniors).

I saw them live last night and they were amazing. Their dance had so much speed/flow and expression and they definitely looked like a strong senior team to me. Maia has definitely grown..she does look like a lady. And Alex looks pretty good too. Looking forward to their OD tonight!

I think they are maturing so beautifully. It seems like every year they raise the already incredible level of their skating. Amazing how quickly they are just growing up right in front of our eyes. This is actually one of the things I love with this sport. Like watching flowers bloom and trees grow and change with the seasons.

They have always been magnetic performers. This year such improved power and maturity. They are definitely senior ready IMO. Maia just makes me gasp the way she is blossoming. Such an elegant beauty. Alex makes my daughters gasp

A fun article about roommates Alex, Charlie White, Evan Bates and Trevor Young. For such a celebrated "big sports" school, I wonder if they know there are such world class skaters on campus?

http://www.freep.com/article/201001...ts01/U.S.-skaters-are-rivals-roommates-at-U-M

Binthere said:

I think they are maturing so beautifully. It seems like every year they raise the already incredible level of their skating. Amazing how quickly they are just growing up right in front of our eyes. This is actually one of the things I love with this sport. Like watching flowers bloom and trees grow and change with the seasons.

They have always been magnetic performers. This year such improved power and maturity. They are definitely senior ready IMO. Maia just makes me gasp the way she is blossoming. Such an elegant beauty. Alex makes my daughters gasp

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Well said