Alex Shibutani

He attended the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, during the late 1990s before relocating to Colorado Springs from 2005 through 2007 then Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2007.

While in Colorado Springs, Alex Shibutani attended Cheyenne Mountain High School and finished his sophomore year there.

Alex Hideo Shibutani (born April 25, 1991) is an American ice dancer.

Alex Hideo Shibutani was born on April 25, 1991, in Boston.

He is the son of Chris and Naomi Shibutani, both of Japanese descent, who met as Harvard musicians.

He has a younger sister, Maia Shibutani, who competes with him as his partner for ice dancing.

In March 2003, he and his family attended the World Championships in Washington D.C. He said, "We were seated close to the ice in the second row, and when the ice dancers came out for their warm up, we could actually feel a gust of wind as the skaters flew by. We were so impressed with the artistry, skating quality, and speed of the top teams that we decided to give it a try."

Maia and Alex Shibutani teamed up to compete in ice dancing in the spring of 2004.

Their singles coach, Kathy Bird, arranged for them to work with their first dancing coaches Andy Stroukoff and Susie Kelley.

The Shibutanis also worked with Mary Marchiselli.

During their juvenile season, their programs were choreographed by Josh Babb.

During the 2004–2005 season, their first season of competition, they competed on the juvenile level, which is the lowest competitive level in the U.S. Figure Skating testing structure.

During that season, Alex Shibutani represented the Hickory Hill Figure Skating Club in competition.

They competed at the 2005 North Atlantic Regional Championships, the qualifying competition for the U.S. Junior Championships, and won the competition.

The win qualified them for the 2005 U.S. Junior Championships.

At that competition, they placed second in the first compulsory dance, fourth in the second compulsory dance, and third in the free dance, ending up with the silver medal.

After moving up to the intermediate level and performing well at the non-qualifying competitions, the Shibutanis went to Colorado Springs, Colorado to work with choreographer Tom Dickson.

During that off-season, they were being coached by Judy Blumberg on the east coast.

After doing better than expected at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Competition in the summer of 2005, the Shibutanis decided to move coaching centers to a better training environment and so moved to train in Colorado Springs under head coach Patti Gottwein.

During that time, they also worked with Rich Griffin, Damon Allen and Eric Schulz.

Alex Shibutani changed his club representation to the Broadmoor Skating Club, where he and his sister trained.

The Shibutanis won the Southwestern Regional Championships, their qualifying competition for the 2006 U.S. Junior Championships.

At the 2006 U.S. Junior Championships, they placed second in the first compulsory dance and then won the second compulsory and free dances to win the title overall.

They worked as guest bloggers and aides for the media staff for U.S. Figure Skating at the 2006 U.S. Championships, and again at the 2006 Four Continents, which were held in Colorado Springs.

The Shibutanis moved up to the novice level, which is the first and lowest of three levels that compete at the U.S. Championships.

At the 2007 Midwestern Sectional Championships, their qualifying competition for the national championships, the Shibutanis competed under the ISU Judging System for the first time.

They placed second in the first compulsory dance and then won the second compulsory and the free dances to win the competition overall and qualify for the 2007 U.S. Championships.

At Nationals, the Shibutanis placed second in both compulsory dances and then won the free dance to win the novice gold medal by a margin of victory of 2.06 points ahead of silver medalists Sara Bailey & Kyle Herring.

This was their second consecutive national title.

Following the 2007 U.S. Championships, the Shibutanis changed coaches to Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva in Canton, Michigan.

One factor in the decision to change coaches was the issue of university for Alex Shibutani, who at the time of the coaching change, had two years left of high school and was considering his university options.

The Shibutanis moved up to the junior level nationally.

The Shibutanis have also won six titles on the Grand Prix series and a silver medal at the 2009 World Junior Championships.

He completed his junior and senior years of high school at Huron High School and entered the University of Michigan in the fall semester of 2009.

Alex Shibutani began skating at age seven.

He originally trained as a single skater and competed up to the juvenile level in singles.

They are two-time members of the US Olympic team, competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Partnered with his sister Maia Shibutani, he is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2018), a three-time World medalist (silver in 2016; bronze in 2011 and 2017), the 2016 Four Continents champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion (2016, 2017).

In 2018, they became the first ice dancers who are both of Asian descent to medal at the Olympics (bronze in team figure skating and ice dancing).

They are the second sibling duo to ever share an ice dancing Olympic medal, and the first from the United States.