Fear and Gibson shine but GB struggle in team event

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson posted a season-best score in their first performance at Milan-Cortina 2026 but Team GB struggled overall in the team event.

A total of 10 teams – including Great Britain for the first time since 2014 – compete for points across the four disciplines: men’s, women’s, pairs and ice dance. The best skater in each discipline gets 10 points, the second best gets nine and so on.

Qualification consists of a short program and rhythm dance, with the top five teams progressing to the finals to skate for a medal.

Britain are currently in eighth place with 11 points and need a score of nine or more from men’s skater Edward Appleby on Saturday afternoon to stand any chance of staying in the medal race.

Ice dancers Fear and Gibson performed a stunning rhythm dance routine on Friday morning to their trademark Spice Girls mix.

Fear – who will carry the British flag at the opening ceremony on Friday night – wore it here as a sparkly Ginger Spice inspired dress, as she and Gibson landed their planned elements with gusto.

They recorded a score of 86.85 points, their best of the 2025-26 season to put Team GB third after the opening ice dance section.

However, Britain’s hopes of fighting for a medal took a blow during the pairs.

Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby, who have finished in the top 10 at the European Championships during the past two competitions, started strongly on their Olympic debut.

But Vaipan-Law fell during the throw triple salchow, resulting in no points for that element and an overall one-point deduction.

And in the women’s singles Kristen Spours missed her double axel, resulting in it being marked as an invalid element.

British champion Spours, 25, was a doubt for the Games after having disc herniation surgery last June and then taking an indefinite break to prioritise her physical and mental health.

Given the team event features all the major players expected to compete for gold in the ice dance competition on Tuesday, Fear and Gibson’s third place serves as a positive indicator that they could get on the podium.

If so, they would be the first British figure skaters to win an Olympic medal since 1984 champions Dame Jayne Torvill and Sir Christopher Dean finished third at Lillehammer in 1994.

The US are the reigning team event champions, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates are favourites for ice dance gold. To a mix of American rock classics, they showed why with a season best score of 91.06 points.

In second are France’s European champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron who performed a practically perfect routine to Vogue by Madonna, for a season best 89.98.

The French have faced scrutiny since beginning their partnership in November after allegations made by Cizeron’s former partner – and fellow 2022 Olympic champion – Gabriella Papadakis, plus the suspension of Fournier Beaudry’s former partner Nikolaj Sorensen following allegations of sexual assault.