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The ShibSibs Free Dance Routine Was A Showstopper & Twitter Can't Handle It

by Bernadette Deron
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

If you're a fan of ice dance, then you've known about the Maia and Alex Shibutani have been in on the map for a while. But for those unfamiliar with competitive ice dance this brother and sister duo have made a serious splash at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. They've quickly become Team USA favorites and (when competing) have been all social media has been buzzing about. Well on Feb. 19, the pair's Olympic journey officially came to an end, and the tweets about the Shib Sibs free dance ice dance routine were thrilled, because the performance was nothing short of spectacular.

This year has been a whirlwind of an Olympic journey for the Shibutanis. And expectations were high as the pair came into compete in the final program of their ice dance event. On Feb. 18, (Feb. 19 in South Korea) the brother and sister performed the first half of their two part competition — the short ice dance program. The Shib sibs executed a stunning routine, complete with perfect twizzle sequences and an incredible lift at the end. They earned an impressive technical score of 40.33 and would up ratcheting up a overall score of 77.73 — putting them in fourth place.

And tonight the Shib sibs delivered yet again in the free dance program. The longer of the two routines was performed to "Paradise" by Coldplay, and their performance was just as incredible as their first — putting them at the top of the board after their performance.

The world was so ready for the Shib Sibs to perform their final routine in the ice dance competition.

Then the time finally came, and the Shibutani duo took to the ice.

And Twitter could not get enough of the Shib sibs' amazing incredible routine.

The Shibutani's score for their free skate have them a 114.86, which brings their overall competition total to 192.59 — putting them in the lead after their final performance. Unfortunately, those following them were the stiffest of a stiff competition, and the Shibutanis were quickly displaced first by French pair Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron and Canadian couple Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who took silver and gold respectively — but the Shibutanis walked away with a bronze which, may I remind everyone, isn't too shabby.

The Shib sibs were facing some stiff competition coming into tonight's free dance program. Gold medal favorites Virtue and Moir of Team Canada came into the event on top of the leaderboard, after earning an incredible 83.67 for their short dance routine. In fact, that score beat the pervious record for highest short dance score ever recorded, which was also happened to be held by Virtue and Moir. So they basically just beat their own and also made history in the sport of ice dance — no big deal.

But the Shibutanis made their case for being gold medal contenders tonight and ended up delivering a gorgeous performance and earning an amazing score to match it.

This was not the first time the Shib sibs have made a trip to the Olympics. They made their Olympic debut four years ago in Sochi, Russia. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, the duo fell short of making it to the podium and wound up finishing in ninth place. And the two came into this year's games knowing that they needed to step their game up big time of they wanted a shot at winning a medal this year. Prior to the Olympics Alex stated, “We have pushed ourselves to prepare for a very important year," he said at a grand prix ice dance event in Moscow, “Now is our time.”

And the Shib sibs definitely proved themselves this year, and showed the world that they are two of the best ice dancers competing in the sport today. With their impressive display at the PyeongChang games, there is no doubt in my mind that these two will be back to compete on Olympic ice in 2022. And next time around, I'm sure that they'll be a shoe-in for gold.