Ice dancer Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear finish seventh in Skate Canada

Scottish skater Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear did not achieve the scores they needed to boost their rankings at their first Grand Prix of the season in the free dance final, slipping two spots into seventh place.

GB skaters Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, from Paisely, skate their rhythm dance in the dance competition at Skate Canada International in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 29, 2021. (Photo by Geoff Robins / AFP) (Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)

The ice dance couple, who had hopes of a medal in the Skate Canada International competition – one of their two Grand Prix assignments this season – had a disappointing performance in Vancouver last night, scoring 106.19 for their free dance. They finished on a total of 178.08

The pair scooped the bronze medal at Skate Canada last time the competition was held in 2019. However, errors on a twizzle sequence in the rhythm dance on Friday night left them going into the free dance in fifth place. Gibson, from Paisley, trains with Fear at the Ice Academy of Montreal in Canada.

Outside of the medallists, the overall field was close, with just eight points between fourth and seventh place. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin from Russia moved up from seventh to fifth after scoring 180.57 points overall and 109.91 in the free dance. The event was won by Canada’s Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier, claiming their second Skate Canada title of their career. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy danced to the silver medal while Spain’s Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz secured the bronze, their first ISU Grand Prix medal.

In the pairs competition, Great Britain’s Zoe Jones from Swindon – one of the oldest competitors currently competing in figure skating at 41 – and her partner Christopher Boyardji finished eighth out of eight competitor teams.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.