Scottish ice dancer first ever to win medal for Britain in major figure skating event

Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear have become the first British figure skaters ever to win a medal in the Grand Prix Final since the event began nearly 30 years ago.

The ice dance pair scooped bronze in the event in Grenoble, France, losing out on the silver by less than one point.

The pair scored 122.87 in the free dance, giving them an overall total of 205.18. The event was won by Madison Chock and Evans Bates from the US, who scored a season’s best of 132.12 in the free dance and an overall season’s best of 219.85. Second place went to Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri with 208.11.

Gibson, from Prestwick and Fear were lying in third place after the rhythm dance, a point behind Guignard and Fabbri.

The first Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final took place in the 1995-1996 season, however it was only given its current name in 1998. after the first three iterations had already taken place.

Speaking at the press conference held after the competition, Fear said it was a “huge honour” to represent Great Britain.

She said: “I think we’re so proud to be part of Great Britain and to be a part of the legacy of ice dance that is there, so to have made history in that way, I’m very proud.”

Gibson added: “There are legends who have come from come from Great Britain in the past and so to be the first in this new generation of skating is really cool.”

The pair said they were disappointed with their score, which was strong on the technical side, but dropped slightly in the component part of the judging.

Gibson said: “Our technical was solid, so we’ll be looking at getting some feedback on the scoring.”

He added they could work on potentially tweaking some elements of the routine before the European and World Figures Skating Championships, which both take place early next year.

The duo travelled to France less than a week after competing in the British Championships, where they took their seventh ice dance title.

Fear and Gibson were the top scoring couple going into the competition, having won both of their Grand Prix series assignments. No other ice dance teams have won both their Grand Prix assignments this year, in a tumultuous season for the discipline so far, which saw falls from top level teams including Guignard and Fabbri and Chock and Bates in earlier rounds.

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain compete during the free dance of the ice dance during the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Finlandia Trophy competition in Helsinki, Finland last month. | Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images

Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier of Canada, who won the competition two years ago, were lying in last place following the rhythm dance, after Poirier suffered a fall. Despite scoring 127.12, close to their season’s best, they did not manage to regain enough ground to reach the podium.

No other British skaters qualified for the finals of the Grand Prix competitions, which sees only the top six in each discipline take part.