For a few skaters every season — Olympic qualifying year or otherwise — Nebelhorn Trophy is a test run, an opportunity to obtain valuable international feedback from judges at one of the more established Senior B events of the early season. And for those emerging onto the scene, it can be a proving ground: confirm assumptions, raise expectations, or create a splash.
The 2010 event served as the first senior competition for Maia & Alex Shibutani, U.S. junior champions who captured World Junior silver in 2009 but fell short of the podium a year later. In Oberstdorf, the newcomers entered an especially experienced field which included eventual victors Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat and Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte, and faced an uphill battle following an eighth-place short dance marked by a damaging fall on the twizzles.
So it was key, then, for the siblings to make the best they could from what remained. And with their ballroom-based free dance to Nat King Cole’s “Smile” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” the team captured second place in the segment, with a performance that, while not technically flawless, was elevated by some solid, and not undeserved, components. The Shibutanis would pull up to finish fifth overall — and set themselves up for an exceptionally successful debut senior season.