Scottish ice dancers have 'skate we've been hoping for' in World Figure Skating Championships first

Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear are lying in a medal position on the world podium after finishing third in the rhythm dance at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston.

Mr Gibson, from Prestwick and partner Ms Fear scored 83.86 in the first round of the competition, putting them in a medal position at the World Championships for the first time in their careers.

It is also the first time a British ice dance couple have been in medal contention at the competition since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean last competed more than 40 years ago.

Meanwhile, Anastasia Vaipan Law and Luke Digby, from Dundee, look set to have earned an Olympic spot in the pairs competition for Great Britain after finishing 12th overall after the free skate final, in which they placed 11th.

The pair, who scored 117.61 in their free skate and 178.62 overall, said they were “proud” of their performance and were awaiting official confirmation of the Olympic place.

Team GB European Figure Skating Championship bronze medallists Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson train ahead of the World Figure Skating Championships. | Getty Images

Mr Gibson and Ms Fear beat Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri to the bronze medal spot by less than a point. Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates are lying in first position with a score of 90.18, with Canadians Paul Poirier and Piper Gillies in second with 86.44.

Mr Gibson and Ms Fear have twice before finished fourth in the World Championships and won the bronze medal in the European Figure Skating Championships earlier this year.

“I’m so happy,” Ms Fear said. “This is the skate we have been wanting for all season. We really put in the work between European and Worlds. Now what we have been training for really showed up under the pressure. That’s what we wanted, and our goal, so we are very excited.”

Mr Gibson added: “We had the most fun crowd here, it was really amazing. People were screaming at us when we were passing by them, which was really cool. We tried to entertain each other, so people entertain us, so the connection (between the audience and us) really adds to our performance.”

Ms Vaipan Law and Mr Digby, who placed 20th in the World Championships last year, are due to take part in the Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean Last Dance tour in May, which will perform in UK cities including Glasgow.

Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby of Great Britain compete during the Pairs Free Skating in the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Ms Vaipan Law said: “We’ll wait until we have it officially on paper that we qualified an Olympic spot, but we are very happy that we could show another strong performance and finish this season on a good note with a performance we are proud of.

“It also helps us a lot to hear confirmation from other people about how much we’ve improved. Since we’re in our daily training routine, we don’t always see our own progress as clearly.”

Mr Digby said: “We’re also really looking forward to joining the Torvill & Dean tour, where we’ll perform in three cities in the UK. We’re not entirely sure yet what we’ll skate to, but it’ll be a nice change from our usual competition routine, and we’re really excited about it.”

The pairs competition was won by Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi of Japan.

The free dance final will take place on Saturday evening, UK time.