Ilona Maher Shares Fierce Photos From Return to Rugby Pitch as She Joins Bristol Bears

The athlete has touched down in England, where she will be playing with the Bristol Bears in the new year.

Ilona Maher / Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Only a week ago, Ilona Maher was closing out Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars with two impressive performances alongside professional dance partner Alan Bersten. Through weeks of hard work (and with the help of fan votes), the pair finished their stint on the hit television show in second place.

Just days later, though, the professional athlete was already onto her next venture. On Dec. 2, the Bristol Bears, a member of England’s Premiership Women's Rugby league, announced that the Paris Olympian would be joining them on the pitch for the next three months (at least).

She touched down in England just a few days after her final dance on DWTS and has already started practicing with the squad. Yesterday, Maher and the Bristol Bears shared a joint Instagram post featuring her first outtakes from the pitch in England. The 28-year-old looked fierce in the series of photos and videos from her first practices “back on the pitch,” as they wrote in the caption of the post.

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A post shared by Bristol Bears Women (@bristolbearswomen)

Though Maher’s contract doesn’t officially begin until 2025, she has already started practicing with the team in preparation for matches in the new year. She has agreed to play for the team through mid-March, a decision that the Bears’s coaching staff met with great excitement.

“This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” head coach Dave Ward said in a recent press release. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will add real value to our programme on and off the field.”

Maher, for her part, hopes that her stint with the Bears will put her in a good position to earn a spot on Team USA’s Rugby World Cup team this coming summer. “I am excited to join the Bristol Bears and put myself in the best position to earn a spot to represent USA in the 2025 Rugby World Cup alongside such a talented and driven group as the Bears,” she said of the decision.

But she has more long-term plans, too. The Vermont native has already voiced a desire to return to the Olympics in 2028. At the Paris Games this past summer, she helped lead the Team USA squad to their first medal (a bronze) in team history. Next time around, she hopes to repeat the feat—or better.