'Dancing with the Stars: Athletes' cast and pro dancers announced by ABC

Dancing with the Stars: Athletes' cast for this spring season has been officially announced.


ABC formally revealed the 10 professional athletes and their pro dance partners who will be competing on Dancing with the Stars' next edition on Good Morning America on Friday morning.

RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)

The celebrities are NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former MLB star Johnny Damon, Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu, Olympic luger Chris Mazdzer, NFL star Josh Norman, Olympic softball player Jennie Finch, Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, and female college basketball hero Arike Ogunbowale.

Tonya, Adam and Jamie's Dancing with the Stars participations are not a surprise, as their names had previously been leaked in the press.


The athletes appeared live with their professional partners on GMA except for Arike, who is training for Dancing with the Stars in South Bend, IN, where she is still attending classes at Notre Dame. However, she was able to conduct a quick satellite interview with Gleb at her side from the college grounds.

This cast boasts 15 X Games medals, seven Olympic medals, six NBA titles, five U.S. basketball medals, and two World Series rings. They are all athletes at the top of their sports, but none of them have ever taken a dance lesson.

Fans will watch these athletes compete for the mirrorball trophy when Dancing with the Stars returns with Season 26 on Monday, April 30 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.

Adam, a bronze medalist at the 2018 Winter Olympics as well as a LGBTQ activist, will be paired with pro dancer Jenna Johnson, a former So You Think You Can Dance contestant and All-Star who competed on Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars with Jake T. Austin but happened to be the first couple eliminated.

"I think I really hope I'm not shy," joked the outspoken Adam. "I think Jenna is going to have her hands full and I can't wait."


Arike, a Notre Dame women's basketball national championship MVP, is paired with Gleb Savchenko, who has participated in four previous Dancing with the Stars seasons and had his highest finish with Jana Kramer on Season 23 when they placed fourth.

Chris, the first-ever American athlete to win a medal in the Men's Single Luge event at the Olympics, will be partnered with Witney Carson, who has one Dancing with the Stars victory under her belt with Alfonso Ribeiro and placed third last season with actor Frankie Muniz.

Jamie, the first female snowboarder to earn two gold medals and the first female snowboarder to win two medals at a single Olympics, will be paired with Artem Chigvintsev, who has competed in six previous Dancing with the Stars season but never finished higher than sixth place.

Johnny -- who won World Series with both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees and has also previously competed on The Celebrity Apprentice -- is partnered with Emma Slater, who won Season 24 of Dancing with the Stars with Rashad Jennings. Last season, she placed fourth with Drew Scott.

Josh, the highest-paid NFL cornerback in 2016, will be paired with Sharna Burgess, a fan-favorite Dancing with the Stars pro who has competed in 10 seasons of Dancing with the Stars but never won a title. Sharna did, however, finish in second place twice with Nick Carter in Season 21 and James Hinchcliffe in Season 23.


Standing 7'2," Kareem, the NBA's all-time leading scorer and six-time NBA champion and the league's only six-time MVP, will be paired with Lindsay Arnold, standing 5'4."

Lindsay, a former So You Think You Can Dance contestant, won last season of Dancing with the Stars with Jordan Fisher, so she's the defending champion.

Mirai, who helped Team USA win a bronze medal in the Olympic team event and became the first American woman to land a triple Axel in an Olympic Winter Games, will be partnered with Alan Bersten, a former So You Think You Can Dance contestant who made his Dancing with the Stars debut as a pro in Season 25, when he was paired with Debbie Gibson.

Jennie, a softball pitcher and first baseman who is a former collegiate All-American and medal winning Olympian, will be paired with Keo Motsepe, who has appeared on six Dancing with the Stars seasons but never finished higher than sixth place with Jodie Sweetin on Season 22. Like Johnny, Jennie has also previously competed on The Celebrity Apprentice.

And last but not least, Tonya, the disgraced former Olympic figure skater who has made headlines in recent months thanks to the release of the I, Tonya film, will be paired with Sasha Farber, who was demoted to the Dancing with the Stars Troupe last season.


Sasha has competed on four previous seasons of Dancing with the Stars, never finishing higher than fourth place.

Tonya said on GMA that she needs to get rid of some of her bad skating habits -- such as her "skating face" and "skating follow-through."

RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)

These athletes and pro dancers will be judged each week of the Dancing with the Stars mini-season by Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.

Noticeably missing from the lineup of pro dancers are Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Val Chmerkovskiy, Peta Murgatroyd, and Mark Ballas.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski