Dance
Dancing With The Stars: Athletes Crowns Season 26 Champion
Do you think they deserved to win?
Ana Suarez
05.22.18

Dancing with the Stars: Athletes officially has crowned a winner!

The 26th season of DWTS aired on April 30, 2018, and took off with a huge start. The lineup was star-studded, with athletes who have been famous for decades and athletes who just started to gain media attention.

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To start, the Dancing with the Stars: Athletes lineup was:

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and pro dancer Lindsay Arnold
  • Mirai Nagasu and pro dancer Alan Bersten
  • Josh Norman and pro dancer Sharna Burgess
  • Chris Mazdzer and pro dancer Witney Carson
  • Jamie Anderson and pro dancer Artem Chigvintsev
  • Johnny Damon and pro dancer Emma Slater
  • Jennie Finch and pro dancer Keo Motsepe
  • Arike Ogunbowale and pro dancer Gleb Savchenko
  • Tonya Harding and pro dancer Sasha Farber
  • Adam Rippon and pro dancer Jenna Johnson
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In that first week, Olympians Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu stood out as the front-runners for the competition.

Well, there’s a reason that Adam stood out right from the start – he just won the Mirror Ball trophy on Monday, May 21, 2018!

Dancing with the Stars: Athletes followed a shorter cycle than typical DWTS seasons. It was just a 4-week event! Which meant that eliminations came from left and right over the first three weeks.

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Going into the finale, it was Adam Rippon and his partner Jenna Johnson, Tonya Harding and her partner Sasha Farber, and Josh Norman and his partner Sharna Burgess.

Fans of DWTS were actually pretty upset that Mirai Nagasu didn’t make it to the finale but Tonya Harding did. The controversy that has surrounded Tonya since the 1994 Olympics kept many DWTS fans from rooting for her.

Adam earned a perfect score for his jazz routine in the finale, but the judges had a few comments on his freestyle, which earned only a 28/30.

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Adam defended his dance by saying, “This freestyle is different, corky, fun and totally embodies me as a person and I want to share that with America.”

Tonya Harding earned a 26/30 for her Viennese waltz, then a perfect 30/30 for her freestyle in the episode, while Josh Norman earned a 27/30 for his foxtrot and then a perfect 30/30 for his freestyle.

You can watch Adam’s perfect jazz routine below to see why he took home the glittery trophy.

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The best part about all of Adam’s dances is how in sync he is with his partner. Jenna and Adam always have a smile on their face when they’re working together.

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Even though Adam didn’t get the perfect score on his freestyle, his score was high enough and he had more fans on his side! The moment was monumental for him, but also for his pro partner Jenna. It was only her second season dancing as a pro and this is her first Mirror Ball win!

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Congrats Adam and Jenna on your hard-earned win! Do you think they were the dancing couple that deserved to win Dancing with the Stars: Athletes?

You can see the moment that Jenna and Adam found out they won in the video below:

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