Dundee skater qualifies for final at European Championships

Natasha Mckay placed 20th in the short programme at the European Figure Skating Competition.

Ms McKay, who trains at Dundee Ice Arena, finished the short programme in 20th place and will skate in the final at the European Figure Skating Championships in Espoo, Finland, on Saturday. The top 24 out of 29 competitors qualify for the final.

Her training mates Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby, are lying in ninth place in the pairs competition before the final, which will take place late on Thursday night. They scored 49.43, short of their personal best of 51.11 at the same competition last year. All 13 competitors in the pairs competition, which is currently led by Italians Sara Conti and Nicolas Macci, skate in the final.

“Overall I’m happy, I’m just trying to enjoy every competition that I have now like it is my last,” said Ms McKay, who placed 17th in last year’s competition. “We haven't made any decisions but we'll see.”

She said she was “not worrying too much” about obtaining minimum scores necessary to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships in March. The six-times British champion has already said that she is likely to retire after this season.

"If I don't get, I don't get, if I do, I do, everything's a bonus,” she said.

Georgia’s Anastasia Gubanova is lying in first position in the women’s championships, followed closely by Loena Hendrickx of Belgium. Swiss skater Kimmy Repond, 16, who is skating in the senior level competition for the first time, is currently in third place.

Lewis Gibson, from Prestwick and partner Lilah Fear are due to battle it out for a gold medal in the ice dance competition, which begins on Friday. Their major rivals for the top spot are likely to be Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri from Italy.

In the men’s competition, Britain’s Graham Newberry is currently in 15th place, while France’s Adam Siao Him Fa is in the gold medal position. The men’s competition final is also to take place on Friday.