Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani came in ninth place at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and in 2018, they’re ready to dominate. Us Weekly caught up exclusively with the sister-and-brother duo ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Watch the video above.
1. They got to meet one of their biggest inspirations: Coldplay
“The fact that we’ve skated to their music and we’re gonna be skating to their music at the Olympics, its been very special,” Maia, 23, told Us. Her brother added that they have spent time with the Chris Martin-led band multiple times now. “We met them at a concert a year ago. We competed at the World Championship in Boston and we skated to ‘Fix You.’ That was a couple seasons ago, and it was a breakthrough year for us. So it was really exciting to be able to meet them and listen to their music live,” he said. “It’s really inspired us a lot. We also met them at the iHeart Festival in Las Vegas so that was really cool. We wanted to show our appreciation for everything they’ve unknowingly done for us in inspiring our skating.”
2. Food is their guilty pleasure.
“That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I hear guilty pleasures,” Alex, 26, told Us. “We have pretty strict diets for normal people. We watch what we eat but we definitely enjoy food. For me it’s like, a fried chicken sandwich.”
3. They binge the same shows you do.
“I’m excited for This Is Us,” Mia told Us. For Alex, he recently watched Master of None. “That just was a combination of a lot of my passions: comedy and food, lots of pasta!”
4. He’s had the same celebrity crush for years.
“I think I said Emma Watson in 2014,” Alex said. “It’s just so hard [to change it]. She’s the only one for me! She’s great.”
5. Maia gives great advice — not just for skaters.
“Usually when someone comes up to us and they ask for advice, it really comes down to the one thing I want to tell them: do what you love,” Maia said. “For us, we love to skate, and of course there are challenges pursuing what you want to do, but as long as you have that pure love that you can hold on to, you’ll be able to persevere.”
Reporting by Mandie DeCamp.
