Scottish skater equals Torvill and Dean in seventh national title win

A Scottish ice dancer has scooped his seventh national title - equalling the record of Olympic medal winning skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

Lewis Gibson, from Prestwick, with partner Lilah Fear, won the gold medal in the ice dance event at the British Figure Skating Championships for the seventh time, tying with Torvill and Dean for the number of national ice dance titles won, as well as Edinburgh skaters John and Sinead Kerr, who held the top UK medal from 2004 to 2010.

The ice dance pair scored 227.42, after a 92.48 score in the free dance at the event in Sheffield.

On social media, the duo wrote: “Seven times [British] national champions. What an honour to share this achievement with the incredible Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and John and Sinead Kerr.”

Meanwhile, another Scottish pair have won their fourth consecutive gold in the pairs competition. Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby, who train in Dundee, scooped the title in the pairs event for the fourth consecutive year.

Ms Vaipan-Law and Mr Digby scored 188.67 - a personal and season’s best and beating the score they attained when they won gold in the Warsaw Cup last month.

A spokesman for Ice Dundee. where Ms Vaipan-Law and Mr Digby are coached by Simon and Debi Briggs, said: “Huge congratulations to Ana and Luke winning their fourth consecutive British Championship title. They have been going from strength to strength this season and we can't wait for the rest of the season.”

Mr Gibson and Ms Fear are travelling to France this week for the Grand Prix Final event, which will see the world’s top six ice dance teams battle for a place on the podium. The British couple are going into the event with the highest score in the Grand Prix series, having won gold at both their events, at Skate America and the Finlandia Trophy in Finland. No other ice dance team won two medals in qualifying for the final.

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

The couple’s second Grand Prix win came after Ms Fear suffered an injury during training for the event, casting doubt on if she would be able to compete at all.

The womens’ singles competition was won by Kristen Spours, who trains in Swindon, while the men’s title went to Edward Appleby, from Romford.

In ice dance, Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, from Nottingham, broke through 200 points for the first time with a score of 200.82.