2025-26 U.S. Ice Dance News, Updates & Discussion - Backstreet Boys & Spice Girls

Karen-W said:
Listen, you're defending a team that hasn't shown up yet. A team that hasn't competed in 7.5 years. Maybe they'll be on the Trialeti Trophy entries next week and if they are, great. But if they aren't... Well, I call as much bullshit on this "comeback" as I'll call bullshit on Sui/Han's "comeback" - that's another team (in a different discipline) that hasn't shown up at anything yet.
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To be fair to Sui/Han in this - Sui did want to come back with another partner. Chinese fed told her no, she could only come back if Han came back. So they tried and Han is indeed too injured to compete. So the circumstances of their comeback is completely different.

As far as the ShibSibs, I still don't get the "why" of this comeback. It's probably not entirely for the media attention like I thought initially given they're not posting on social media - although given their endorsement deal and the media attention there may be a component of that.

But this adds to the question of "why":
princeton123 said:
Thinking you can mount a comeback in an Olympic year when you haven't skated competitively in seven years and be taken seriously is either very misguided or very arrogant. Probably both
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Not even not skated competitively - only skated in limited shows and given limited seminars (which I've seen 70+ year old coaches teach seminars, so that's not a sign you're training). It's not like some of the '90s or '00s comebacks where people had been on the pro circuit for years and were just training and competing in a less strenuous manner. We have no idea if they even skated at all for a good chunk of that. Add to that that the rules have changed - and not in any favorable manner to the ShibSibs - and it just seems very misguided.

Unless the why is not going to the Olympics. I think people (including myself) would take this better if the "why" didn't seem so explicitly Olympics or get back to prior form - like wanting to skate in shows and using competitions for promo or just try to get back in shape for fun. There's nothing wrong with wanting to get back into a hobby. Midori Ito's still at it competitively, but many former competitive skaters do shows well into their 50s.
 
FWIW, Zingas/Kolesnik have been added to the "National Team" listings on the USFS Leave Your Mark 2026 site (which has had some format changes, BTW).
I happened to notice this update just today (after not looking at the site for many weeks), and I guess their inclusion is better late than never.

Z/K now appear as the seventh dance partnership, along with the original six.
(Listings for the other disciplines are unchanged.)

National Team | Leaveyourmark2026

www.leaveyourmark2026.com www.leaveyourmark2026.com
 
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Willin said:
As far as the ShibSibs, I still don't get the "why" of this comeback. It's probably not entirely for the media attention like I thought initially given they're not posting on social media - although given their endorsement deal and the media attention there may be a component of that.
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My guess as to why the Shibs decided to come back:

It would be hard not to notice that the level of dance is not as high as it was when the Shibs were competing. They were up against V/M & D/W at the beginning of their career and then P/C entered the mix. They won three world medals and two olympic medals, none of them gold. I imagine they may have seen C/B winning worlds the last three years and thought, hey we were consistently beating them when we competed and they are older than us. Perhaps they thought it was possible for them to win Olympics or Worlds or maybe even an Olympic Team Gold with the absence of Russia.

Idk, just a guess.
 
Trialeti Trophy entries are out and there is NO US ice dance team assigned.

Can the Shibs really be thinking of starting their season at NHK? That seems like absolute madness.
 
Karen-W said:
Trialeti Trophy entries are out and there is NO US ice dance team assigned.

Can the Shibs really be thinking of starting their season at NHK? That seems like absolute madness.
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This absolutely seems misguided. In 2021 almost every top team did a challenger or senior b (remember the stacked field of Finlandia?) and I think that was in part to get some more competitions in after such a lack of them in the previous year. To enter Olympic season with no competition since February 2018 and no world standings points is wild - no matter who you are or your previous achievements.
 
litenkyckling said:
This absolutely seems misguided. In 2021 almost every top team did a challenger or senior b (remember the stacked field of Finlandia?) and I think that was in part to get some more competitions in after such a lack of them in the previous year. To enter Olympic season with no competition since February 2018 and no world standings points is wild - no matter who you are or your previous achievements.
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I completely agree. I mean, Virtue/Moir had only been out of competition for 2 seasons, and they did a Challenger when they came back. And at NHK the Shibs will be going up against Fear/Gibson and Guignard/Fabbri. Do they really plan to go into that without even shaking off the competitive rust? Doesn't seem like a great approach.

I do wonder whether this was always the plan (for some reason), or if it's more that training hasn't gone quite as well as they thought and they aren't feeling ready yet.
 
RoseRed said:
I completely agree. I mean, Virtue/Moir had only been out of competition for 2 seasons, and they did a Challenger when they came back. And at NHK the Shibs will be going up against Fear/Gibson and Guignard/Fabbri. Do they really plan to go into that without even shaking off the competitive rust? Doesn't seem like a great approach.

I do wonder whether this was always the plan (for some reason), or if it's more that training hasn't gone quite as well as they thought and they aren't feeling ready yet.
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There are a couple of pre-GP senior Bs that will have a dance category - Trophee Metropole Nice and Budapest Trophy, plus Mezzaluna Cup is dance only the 3rd week of October. It's possible they enter one of those competitions rather than a Challenger, but it seems an odd choice.
 
I think it's likely they realized mid-training that they bit off way more than they could chew and didn't realize how tough a comeback would be. I would not be surprised at all if we got an 'actually nvm we're retiring again' post a few weeks from now

Although I think it's bad form to accept sponsorships for an Olympic campaign that is no longer happening. That would piss companies off for real
 
TanithandBenFan said:
A couple of people posted on Reddit recently that they skate at the same rink as the Shibs and they’ve been on the ice. For whatever that’s worth.
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Also, another for whatever it's worth - just checking the USFS' Int'l Assignments page and they do have Mezzaluna Cup listed as an event (same weekend as GPdF), so it seems like the intention is to send some dance teams there. Certainly wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the Shibs to get in front of the judges there before NHK. Mezzaluna usually has a reasonable panel - sometimes generous but nothing like the overly generous Warsaw Cup, Denis Ten Mem, Nepela Mem or Bosphorus Cup dance panels we've seen in recent seasons.
 
Karen-W said:
Also, another for whatever it's worth - just checking the USFS' Int'l Assignments page and they do have Mezzaluna Cup listed as an event (same weekend as GPdF), so it seems like the intention is to send some dance teams there. Certainly wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the Shibs to get in front of the judges there before NHK. Mezzaluna usually has a reasonable panel - sometimes generous but nothing like the overly generous Warsaw Cup, Denis Ten Mem, Nepela Mem or Bosphorus Cup dance panels we've seen in recent seasons.
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Entries are due this weekend so we’ll find out soon enough but I’m not expecting them to be on that list.
 
Did anyone else not find it suspicious when the USFS came out with a new rule saying any former Olympic medalists automatically get byes to Nationals, regardless of how long they'd actually been out of competition? So yes, this means Kwan could say she wants to come back in 2027 and she would automatically go to Nationals thanks to this rule since every thread is bound to head that direction.

Anyways, seeing how there's zero way around saying it wasn't a Shibutani-specific modification, maybe it's been known for a while that they will either start their season late or that they told the powers that be that they are going to need more time anyways. Because why else would they need that rule in place, especially if the Shibs were go to to both of their Grand Prix assignments? It isn't as if they just got back on the ice with the announcement- they've been back skating for at least a year now, if not more.

FWIW, Lobacheva & Averbukh didn't compete at all in the fall of 2001 due to injury, went to Euros and then the Olympics and were one judge away from being gold medalists. No, they didn't take a break from skating. Fusar-Poli & Margaglio showed up literally to the Olympics as their one and done after 4 years off in 2006 and won the CD. We all know how the rest of the competition went. Drobiazko & Vanagas also had 4 years off and won European bronze after barely competing in the fall. Point is that I don't think it's absolutely vital to pull big scores super early in a season because the judges are going to do whatever they want anyways. But if they do withdraw from all fall events, go to Nationals and qualify to the Olympics, they have very very small window of opportunity to compete again before the Olympics to even have the scores needed. And no, they would not be able to go to 4CC either without a minimum score.
 
tony said:
Did anyone else not find it suspicious when the USFS came out with a new rule saying any former Olympic medalists automatically get byes to Nationals, regardless of how long they'd actually been out of competition? So yes, this means Kwan could say she wants to come back in 2027 and she would automatically go to Nationals thanks to this rule since every thread is bound to head that direction.

Anyways, seeing how there's zero way around saying it wasn't a Shibutani-specific modification, maybe it's been known for a while that they will either start their season late or that they told the powers that be that they are going to need more time anyways. Because why else would they need that rule in place, especially if the Shibs were go to to both of their Grand Prix assignments? It isn't as if they just got back on the ice with the announcement- they've been back skating for at least a year now, if not more.

FWIW, Lobacheva & Averbukh didn't compete at all in the fall of 2001 due to injury, went to Euros and then the Olympics and were one judge away from being gold medalists. No, they didn't take a break from skating. Fusar-Poli & Margaglio showed up literally to the Olympics as their one and done after 4 years off in 2006 and won the CD. We all know how the rest of the competition went. Drobiazko & Vanagas also had 4 years off and won European bronze after barely competing in the fall. Point is that I don't think it's absolutely vital to pull big scores super early in a season because the judges are going to do whatever they want anyways. But if they do withdraw from all fall events, go to Nationals and qualify to the Olympics, they have very very small window of opportunity to compete again before the Olympics to even have the scores needed. And no, they would not be able to go to 4CC either without a minimum score.
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And they also wouldn't be able to go to the Olympics, since the Olys have the same CTES mins as 4CCs. They have to compete somewhere internationally this fall/early winter if they want to go to the Olympics as athletes.
 
Karen-W said:
And they also wouldn't be able to go to the Olympics, since the Olys have the same CTES mins as 4CCs. They have to compete somewhere internationally this fall/early winter if they want to go to the Olympics as athletes.
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I said that in the part you highlighted :)
 
tony said:
I said that in the part you highlighted :)
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You did, but it wasn't terribly clear, so I wanted to make it clear that no, the Shibs cannot just show up at Nats & get selected for the Olympic team without competing somewhere internationally during the next three months. There are certainly options open to them and hopefully this isn't a vanity project that winds up with them withdrawing.
 
Is there any rule explaining why the Shibs weren't at Champs Camp? I think it's crazy for them not to be doing competitions before the Grand Prix. But, even if they decided to do that, I would think that they (and USFS) would want them getting feedback on their programs at Champ Camp. Even skaters dealing with injuries and equipment issues were there.
 
Karen-W said:
You did, but it wasn't terribly clear, so I wanted to make it clear that no, the Shibs cannot just show up at Nats & get selected for the Olympic team without competing somewhere internationally during the next three months. There are certainly options open to them and hopefully this isn't a vanity project that winds up with them withdrawing.
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Quoting myself because I just looked at the deadline for CTES mins for the Olympics and it would seem that the Shibs COULD show up to Nats & get named to the Olympic team.

The deadline for CTES mins is Jan 26, 2026 and Challenge Cup has been moved from February to Jan 22-25. Theoretically, the Shibs could compete at Nats, be named to the Olympic team provisionally, go to Challenge Cup & get their CTES mins, then compete at the Olympics.

I can't believe I'm putting this out into the ether, but we should all prepare ourselves for any possibility at this point.
 
This is all I wanted from them so I’m thrilled!! I know it’s a popular choice but I truly think they (maybe more specially Caroline) were made to skate to Groove Is In The Heart
 
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