OSAKA, Japan — After a disappointing result in their comeback bid, US ice dancers Alex and Maia Shibutani said qualifying for next year’s Winter Olympics was not the main reason for their return to competitive skating.In their return to the ice after a seven-year hiatus, the sibling duo finished in sixth place in ice dancing at the NHK Trophy on Saturday.“We’re disappointed with the scores, for sure,” Alex said. “We’ve been in this sport for a long time so we’ll have to look at the protocols but we know what we did and what we came here to do.”Once the dominant US ice dancers, the Shibutanis last competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang where they won bronze medals in both ice dancing and the team event.They are three-time World medalists and two-time US champions.They announced in May they are making a comeback before a video of Alex berating his sister in practice was leaked on social media in the build up to their return to the ice last month, which the siblings played down on Friday.While they would love nothing more than to represent their country at the Milan-Cortina Games, the Shibutanis said it wasn’t the main motivating factor for their return.“Our timing in our return is separate from what the timeline of …
