British Skating News, 2022 and beyond

[Belsornia]

Ed Appleby coaching change: according to his ISU bio he’s left John Wicker (who AFAIK he’d been with practically since Learn to Skate) and is now with Chris Boyadji and Lloyd Jones.

Chris/Zoe/Lloyd building their empire.

 

[Belsornia]

Wheee, what a fab Worlds for Team GB! First medal in over 40 years! My brother-in-law asked me about Lilah and Lewis while we were having lunch today, so they have truly made it.

Plus four Olympic spots confirmed with only Ed Appleby having to make a trip to Not Nebelhorn, and some great performances. Ana and Luke's progress this season has been really impressive, and also props to Kristen Spours for keeping it together when things started to look wonky in the SP.

 

[Aceon6]

I’m glad I committed to Sheffield. Getting to see the top Euro skaters up close and personal just before the Os! Looking forward to seeing Shaiderov from something closer than the balcony!

 

[Kateri]

I’m glad I committed to Sheffield. Getting to see the top Euro skaters up close and personal just before the Os! Looking forward to seeing Shaiderov from something closer than the balcony!

No Shaidorov at Euros, sorry! You want 4CC.

 

[Aceon6]

No Shaidorov at Euros, sorry! You want 4CC.

Boo. I forgot!

 

[morqet]

Wheee, what a fab Worlds for Team GB! First medal in over 40 years! My brother-in-law asked me about Lilah and Lewis while we were having lunch today, so they have truly made it.

Plus four Olympic spots confirmed with only Ed Appleby having to make a trip to Not Nebelhorn, and some great performances. Ana and Luke's progress this season has been really impressive, and also props to Kristen Spours for keeping it together when things started to look wonky in the SP.

We must be in with a decent shout of qualifying for the team event too? I cannot remember how that works at all!

 

[victorskid]

Phebe and James are going straight to rehearsals for the Torvill & Dean "Last Dance" tour - they said that Chris had specifically requested that they do their FD program. They mentioned this in Mixed Zone interviews in Boston.

 

[kwanfan1818]

That experience will be invaluable for Baker/Hernandez, and I hope it translates into PCS next season.

 

[skatingguy]

We must be in with a decent shout of qualifying for the team event too? I cannot remember how that works at all!

Yes, almost a lock. We'll have a better sense after the Olympic Qualifying event in September.

 

[Belsornia]

Alexa Severn is back: she competed at the Black Sea Ice Cup over the weekend, her first competition since Junior Worlds 2024. Unfortunately it looks like she had a rough time in the FS and finished behind AdvNov champion Jessica Worth.

Also at Nina Povey's free skate protocol. Hope she can get it back on track next season.

 

[Belsornia]

The British Solo Dance Championships were in Sheffield this week, moving earlier in the year to align with the emerging international season. It was on the BIS YouTube but they didn't keep the streams up for even a couple of hours.

Results

Senior: Gold - Layla Karnes (BIS), Silver - Alana Pang (Sheffield), Bronze - Megan Parnell-Murphy (Queens?).
Huge score for Karnes (215.55) even accounting for generous domestic scoring! And a really competitive field behind her; Natasha Griffin, who has won several international medals this season was down in seventh.

Junior: Gold - Lily Bakhtiari (Deeside), Silver - Anna-Maria Kislitsyn (Blackburn), Bronze - Harriett Wells (Bristol)
Not competing, Tallulah Neary, who was one of the top qualifiers. Her IG says she's now in Florida, so perhaps third time lucky with an American partner?

Other champions: Advanced Novice - Megan Cunningham (Sheffield), Intermediate Novice - Amelia Kislitsyn (Blackburn), Basic Novice - Lily Walding (Bristol), Juvenile - Nikola Sawicka (Bradford), Beginner - Ruby Morris (Blackburn)

Nice to see some skaters from Dundonald competing at the lower levels. Hopefully some of them will make it through.

 

[Wyliefan]

Looks like Ashlie Slatter found a new partner! Anyone familiar with Louis Gregory? https://www.instagram.com/p/DImJKhvIWnf/?igsh=cnl3azEwNXBqb3Bw

 

[miffy]

Looks like Ashlie Slatter found a new partner! Anyone familiar with Louis Gregory? https://www.instagram.com/p/DImJKhvIWnf/?igsh=cnl3azEwNXBqb3Bw

Aww how lovely! I’m so pleased for her. He must have just switched to dance, I’m pretty sure he was still in Junior Men this season.

 

[Kateri]

Looks like Ashlie Slatter found a new partner! Anyone familiar with Louis Gregory? https://www.instagram.com/p/DImJKhvIWnf/?igsh=cnl3azEwNXBqb3Bw

Oh, that's awesome, so excited for them!

 

[Karen-W]

Phebe Bekker is answering questions on her IG story today & it sounds like they plan on skating to Guns 'n Rose's "November Rain" for their RD next season.

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Question was "what's a song you would love to skate to but haven't got to chance?"

She replied with that song & added "no one steal it please, you heard it here first"...

 

[miffy]

Fantastic, I love November Rain. Although I might not after it’s been butchered down to 4 minutes +/-10 seconds

 

[Karen-W]

Fantastic, I love November Rain. Although I might not after it’s been butchered down to 4 minutes +/-10 seconds

Well, I presume it's for the RD since it was released in 1991, so I'm guessing you'll probably like it even less when it's cut down to 3 minutes, lol.

 

[miffy]

Well, I presume it's for the RD since it was released in 1991, so I'm guessing you'll probably like it even less when it's cut down to 3 minutes, lol.

This won’t work at all

 

[Belsornia]

Looks like Ashlie Slatter found a new partner! Anyone familiar with Louis Gregory? https://www.instagram.com/p/DImJKhvIWnf/?igsh=cnl3azEwNXBqb3Bw

That's great news! I'm really glad she's found a new partner so quickly (and that we have another ice dance convert ) - looking forward to seeing them in competition next season.

I've seen Louis Gregory compete in singles a few times and tbh didn't find his skating particularly memorable - but that's probably at least partly because he used to be with John Wicker's group at Romford, where they love a dreary male ballad. He's been in juniors for a few years and I don't recall him ever attempting 3L or 3F, so I don't think it's surprising that he was considering a discipline switch (or that BIS might have encouraged him - we've been particularly short on ice dance men recently, with a relative overabundance of decent but not international level junior men).

I think he's 19, so they should have a couple of seasons of junior eligibility. Also, unless the Ice Sheff announcers have been getting it wrong for years, he's Loo-ee, so not another Loo-is for GB dance.

Phebe Bekker is answering questions on her IG story today & it sounds like they plan on skating to Guns 'n Rose's "November Rain" for their RD next season.

I had been wondering if, since they're doing the T&D tour, Bekker/Hernandez might get Chris Dean choreo for one of their new programmes - an early music choice is fuel for that speculation.

 

[Belsornia]

“Getting to know you” style interview with Fear/Gibson for Team GB - including a sweet mention of Lilah’s first coach at Queens, Bohdan Zahorski.

 

[Belsornia]

Looks like Kristen Spours is having injury issues again

Kristen Reeds on Instagram: "Comeback 3 is a go ? @aloyoga fancy sponsoring my injured life get up?"

617 likes, 38 comments - kristen_spours on May 9, 2025: "Comeback 3 is a go ? @aloyoga fancy sponsoring my injured life get up?".

www.instagram.com

 

[Belsornia]

There’s a new competition on the BIS events page, the Bolero Cup (yes, really ) on 5-6 September, an ISU international for senior, junior and advanced novice dance running alongside the late summer ice dance qualifier.

I’d think it could attract a reasonable senior field, since it’s good timing for Europe-based teams aiming for the OWG qualifying event to get their programmes in front of judges, but I expect the junior field to be domestic given the clash with the JGP.

Cringing at the name, but also wondering if anyone will skate to Bolero. Or maybe there will be an extra round to the competition and the medalists will have to do a DOI style Bolero-off.

 

[Bunny Hop]

They couldn't just name it the Torvill & Dean Cup?

Or maybe there will be an extra round to the competition and the medalists will have to do a DOI style Bolero-off.

If they do that there had better be a live stream with catch up option.

 

[Belsornia]

Looks like Kristen Spours is having injury issues again

She had surgery on her back:

Kristen Reeds on Instagram: "Surgery ✔️ Goodbye to my Disc Herniation ?? A long journey awaits but I’m ready to get healthy and get back to it with the support of my amazing team @tkphysiolondon @eliteskatingacademy_ @chris_boyadji @lloydjones19 @zj

726 likes, 45 comments - kristen_spours on June 19, 2025: "Surgery ✔️ Goodbye to my Disc Herniation ?? A long journey awaits but I’m ready to get healthy and get back to it with the support of my amazing team @tkphysiolondon @eliteskatingacademy_ @chris_boyadji @lloydjones19 @zjones_80...

www.instagram.com

I hope she can make a full and quick recovery - I'm pulling for her to get the Olympic spot. Looks like she has the same sports physio who worked with Penny Coomes during her comeback from her knee injury.


Other news:
In addition to event of the season ~Bolero Cup~ we have a B international for singles and pairs, the Robin Cousins Cup (21-22 August in Sheffield). I assume the BIS President had to sign off on that name.


We have a new senior ice dance team, Dana Sabatini-Speciale and Danny Kaye. They teamed up about a year ago and were previously planning to compete for South Africa but have now switched to GBR and were at the BIS dance camp at Lee Valley on Friday:

Dana & Daniel - D² on Instagram: "We had a great time at our first BIS Academy of Dance camp!! Thank you so much @britishiceskating for inviting us! ✨ Special thank you to guests @gabriellapapadakis and Isabelle Delobel for amazing on ice and off i

189 likes, 0 comments - dana_daniel_icedance on June 20, 2025: "We had a great time at our first BIS Academy of Dance camp!! Thank you so much @britishiceskating for inviting us! ✨ Special thank you to guests @gabriellapapadakis and Isabelle Delobel for amazing on ice and off ice sessions!! ...

www.instagram.com

He's British and previously competed in singles up to juniors and then solo dance - junior solo dance champion a couple of seasons ago when the men's and women's events were still separate. She competed at a couple of JGPs for Canada.

By my count this now puts us at between 8 and 10 senior dance teams, which is pretty great considering where we were a few seasons ago: Fear/Gibson, Bekker/Hernandez, Bushell/Pena, Hirst/Currie, Hairsine/Surenkov-Gultchev, Whieldon/Hammond, Matthias/Privett-Mendoza, Sabatini-Speciale/Kaye. Status uncertain for Man/Palmer, plus I'm crossing my fingers for good news on the Layla Karnes new partner front.

<-- me at the thought of two full groups of senior dancers at the British Championships.

Less good news on the junior dance front: AdvNov silver medallist Connor Furness is now on IPS, so he and Lily Chandler have split. But we still have three or four junior teams - Marler-Davies/Black, Mann/Hammond, Slatter/Gregory and maybe Tallulah Neary / American partner - which is more than enough teams to use all the JGP spots.

 

[Karen-W]

Less good news on the junior dance front: AdvNov silver medallist Connor Furness is now on IPS, so he and Lily Chandler have split. But we still have three or four junior teams - Marler-Davies/Black, Mann/Hammond, Slatter/Gregory and maybe Tallulah Neary / American partner - which is more than enough teams to use all the JGP spots.

No word on if Atl Ongay-Perez has found a new partner?

 

[miffy]

That’s so sad for Kristen she’d really had such a breakthrough season.

 

[Wyliefan]

I liked Dana S-S when she was skating with Nicholas Buelow. Hope this new partnership is going well.

 

[litenkyckling]

No word on if Atl Ongay-Perez has found a new partner?

He’s off IPS - not sure when that happened though. I wonder if Layla would be a good match for him?

 

[litenkyckling]

No word on if Atl Ongay-Perez has found a new partner?

He’s off IPS - not sure when that happened though. I wonder if Layla would be a good match for him?