Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson wins second silver medal at European championships

Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear have won silver at the European Figure Skating Champonships for the second year running.

Mr Gibson, from Prestwick and Ms Fear, scored 125.62 in the rhythm dance, taking them to 210.82 overall.

The pair were lying in second place after Friday’s rhythm dance, just a point behind Ms Guignard and Mr Fabbri.

Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson perform during the Ice Dance Rhythm Dance event of the European Figure Skating Championships.

However, a couple of minor mistakes in the free dance, to music from the film Rocky, saw them score just below their personal best of 130.26, which they achieved at the NHK Trophy Grand Prix in Japan, beating the Italian couple.

The six-time British champions said they were looking forward to returning to their training base in Montreal, Canada, to perfect their routines ahead of the World Figure Skating Championships, which are taking place in their home city in March.

"We have a lot of time, so we probably will make changes, although we probably don’t need to,” said Mr Gibson.

Ms Fear added: “We like a project, so we will see what we can spice up for Montreal.”

She added: “It was exciting to be so close in both programmes, it is very gratifying for the work we’re putting to keep going up and up.”

Alison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania won bronze on home ice in the city of Kaunas, while British national silver ice dance medallists, Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, finished in 17th place in their first major senior competition.

In the women’s competition, Loena Hendrickx of Belgium finally won a gold medal at the championships, having previously taken silver in both Europeans and worlds, followed by Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia.

Great Britain’s Nina Povey came in 17th place in her first European championships.