British Skating News, 2022 and beyond

[Belsornia]

Starting Orders / Results for the British Championships. A few more updates to the entry list:

Senior Ice Dance: OUT - Lucyna Okhrem / Jan Nordman. Back down to one group.

Junior Men: OUT - Louis Gregory. IN - Oliver Raikes. Novice pairs competitor the last three seasons, but I think this is the first time he's made it to the British in singles.

Junior Pairs: OUT - Rebecca Ritchie / Kyle McLeod. They posted a skating clip on their team insta today with no mention of the withdrawal, so this one feels a bit odd.

I'll start a competition thread in the Kiss and Cry forum tomorrow, unless someone gets there first.

 

[miffy]

Atl has posted that he is now training at Lee Valley, and has explained more about the situation that caused the break up.

Link to his Instagram post

 

[miffy]

Very sad Kyle and Rebecca WD

Connor Bray WD from the Men’s SP in Warsaw today, I hope he will be ok for Nationals.

 

[Belsornia]

Very sad Kyle and Rebecca WD

Connor Bray WD from the Men’s SP in Warsaw today, I hope he will be ok for Nationals.

It seems like there have been a lot of injuries this autumn. Jed Lincoln was injured at JGP Wuxi and then withdrew from Tallinn Trophy last week, so I hope he is alright too.

 

[Belsornia]

Today's withdrawal is Arabella Sear-Watkins. Chloe Dempsie has been added to senior women in her place. She last competed at the British as a junior in 2021, and will be the first senior competitor representing Magnum since Lewis Gibson was a singles skater. (ETA I forgot that Suzi Murray also represents Magnum - should be a great moment for their club.)

Also, does anyone know if BIS has published the ISU championship selection policy for this season? I can only find the 2023-24 one on the website.

 

[Sylvia]

Team GBR for 2025 Europeans was announced today (Dec. 6):

British Ice Skating on Instagram: "🇬🇧 Meet the British team for the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2025! 📍Tallinn, Estonia 📆 28th Jan - 2nd Feb Men: Edward Appleby Women: Kristen Spours Pairs: Anastasia Vaipan-Law & Luke Digby Ice Dance:

484 likes, 5 comments - britishiceskating on December 6, 2024: "🇬🇧 Meet the British team for the ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2025! 📍Tallinn, Estonia 📆 28th Jan - 2nd Feb Men: Edward Appleby Women: Kristen Spours Pairs: Anastasia Vaipan-Law & Luke Digby Ice Dance: Lilah Fear &...

www.instagram.com

Men: Edward Appleby
Women: Kristen Spours
Pairs: Anastasia Vaipan-Law & Luke Digby
Ice Dance: Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson / Phebe Bekker & James Hernandez

Reserves:
Men: Ken Fitterer
Women: Nina Povey
Ice Dance: TBC

2025 European Figure Skating Championships: GB Team Announced

We are excited to announce the BIS Selections for the 2025 European Figure Skating Championships: Tallinn, Estonia, 28th Jan - 2nd Feb 2025.Following a brilliant National Championships in Sheffield last week, the Great Britain team to compete at the 2025 ISU European Figure Skating Championships...

www.iceskating.org.uk

ETA - "Huge congratulations to Phebe Bekker & James Hernandez for winning the 2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb with a score of 181.80!":

British Ice Skating on Instagram: "Huge congratulations to Phebe Bekker & James Hernandez for winning the 2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb with a score of 181.80!🌟🥇👏 #GoldenSpin2024 #PhebeBekker #JamesHernandez #IceDance"

485 likes, 8 comments - britishiceskating on December 6, 2024: "Huge congratulations to Phebe Bekker & James Hernandez for winning the 2024 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb with a score of 181.80!🌟🥇👏 #GoldenSpin2024 #PhebeBekker #JamesHernandez #IceDance".

www.instagram.com

 

[miffy]

That’s such a big win for Phebe and James, any medal would have been a good result in that field, a win is amazing!

 

[her grace]

I think they have one of the best-constructed RDs this season.

 

[Belsornia]

Reserves:
Men: Ken Fitterer
Women: Nina Povey
Ice Dance: TBC

I guess the dance TBC is being held for Bushell/Pena, who will be making their international debut at the EduSport Trophy next week. (I expect they'll be able to get Euros minimums at some point, but probably not first time out; their FD was pretty messy last week.)

Marler Davies / Black will also be in Romania for another stab at junior worlds CTES. (Is BIS regretting not giving them a second JGP now?) TBH I think the results will be pretty similar whether they or Hirsine/Surenkov-Gultchev, who already have minimums, get the spot.

Starting Orders / Results for the British Championships. A few more updates to the entry list:

Senior Ice Dance: OUT - Lucyna Okhrem / Jan Nordman. Back down to one group.

Okhrem/Nordman lasted one competition. He's resurected his IPS profile.

And finally confirmation that Smart/Mattick are done. Lydia posted on instagram that she's started a cruise ship contract. Harry appears to be coaching.

Lydia Smart | Figure Skating on Instagram: "Missing this a little today… but super excited for new adventures in my next chapter ? I guess winter in the Bahamas isn’t so bad ???️⚓️ #utopiaoftheseas #royalcaribbean"

275 likes, 10 comments - lydiasmartskating on November 30, 2024: "Missing this a little today… but super excited for new adventures in my next chapter ? I guess winter in the Bahamas isn’t so bad ???️⚓️ #utopiaoftheseas #royalcaribbean".

www.instagram.com

 

[jägerbomb]

I see that Kirsten Spours won the silver medal at Sofia Trophy this weekend with a score of 176.36, landing five clean triples in the long program.

Top 10 at Europeans is a possibility. 166.01 was the cutoff last season, which seems startling low to me.

 

[Sylvia]

SP is the key - Kristen Spours' top 2 international (not ISU) SB scores in the SP are 61 & 57 (both in Sofia): https://skatingscores.com/gbr/women/kristen_spours/

ETA: 50.08 was the 24th place SP score at 2024 Euros (Nina Povey was 17th with 54.78 and finished 17th overall, 154.05).

 

[jägerbomb]

SP is the key - Kristen Spours' top 2 international (not ISU) SB scores in the SP are 61 & 57 (both in Sofia): https://skatingscores.com/gbr/women/kristen_spours/

Ahhh yes, good point. Fingers crossed.

Does anyone have the tea why she doesn't jump triple toe or triple salchow? She seems to have solid technique on loop, flip, and lutz. I remember Yamaguchi hated the salchow, and there have been some high-profile skaters who famously didn't do triple loop over the years, but missing both toe and sal seems odd to me.

 

[Belsornia]

Kristen has had some great competitions this season but she’s also had a couple of really rough short programmes (pops are a killer) so there’s a huge range of where she could end up. Top ten feels optimistic, but she’s far from the only inconsistent Euro woman so we’ll see. I’m rooting for her to put together two great skates at Euros and Worlds.

I think she jumped triple salchow as a junior, but then she missed the whole season in 2019-20 with a serious back injury and hasn’t attempted it since she came back. She’s said she’s choosing to manage the injury rather than having surgery, so it could be something to do with that (sal doesn’t seem the wrenchiest jump to me, but it’s one of the less costly to drop). On the toeloop - she jumps with a lot of power and height but doesn’t have great distance or flow on her jump exits; it’s like all the momentum is going downward when she lands. I wonder if she struggles to control her power enough to be able to go for a triple on the back half of her combinations.


Looks like BIS is trying to jinx the Euros team by claiming that the Euros 2025 team will be the biggest to compete on home ice - one year to go press release. There’s still time for everyone to crash and burn in Tallinn!

 

[Belsornia]

Lily Matthias and Henry Privett-Mendoza teamed up:

Lily Matthias on Instagram: "Henry and I are so happy to announce our partnership representing Great Britain??. We started our journey a few months ago and have quite literally been finding our feet together. Everyone who knows us knows we have been

278 likes, 19 comments - lily.matthias on January 19, 2025: "Henry and I are so happy to announce our partnership representing Great Britain??. We started our journey a few months ago and have quite literally been finding our feet together. Everyone who knows us knows we have been best friends...

www.instagram.com

If you can't find a dance partner, persuade your mate to switch from singles.

But I do think this is a good move. There are many great qualities to Henry's skating but it wasn't happening for him with the jumps. And I've had a soft spot for Lily since that Making of an Ice Princess BBC doc. I hope this works out for them.

 

[mini_mim85]

Ticket prices are out for 2026 Europeans to go on sale on the 28th Jan https://www.europeans2026.com/ticketing

For those with more experience of attending skating comps than me, is the price difference between the rink side and lower bowl worth it? My feeling is Row A would be potentially but Rows B-D wouldn't offer that much of a different experience to Row E. But the only previous event I've attended live was 2012 Euros and I was way back in the upper section for that, so anything feels like a bonus from there...

 

[Belsornia]

Thanks @mini_mim85 !

I’m pleasantly surprised by the all event ticket prices. After GP Sheff I was expecting something more painful!

For those with more experience of attending skating comps than me, is the price difference between the rink side and lower bowl worth it?

With the disclaimer that I haven’t been in the Sheffield arena before (missed 2012 Euros defending my thesis overseas) I’d say position in the arena matters more than row - a few rows back towards the centre of the long side is going to be a better view than right at the front down the short end. But if there’s a big gap and people might be walking around between rows D and E, that could make a difference.

 

[Lanie]

I'll be buying my tickets! Happy birthday to meeeeee.

My family is coming in from Manchester area to join me too, first time they'll have seen live skating! I will make fans of them yet

 

[Aceon6]

Thanks @Lanie for securing our tix! Woo hoo!

 

[Lanie]

So excited!

 

[Kateri]

I got an all-event, so I'll be there.

 

[Belsornia]

See you in Sheff!

I saw on Lloyd Jones' insta that you can win a Yorkshire teabag on the Sheffield stand in Tallinn.

 

[Miezekatze]

My friend and I were so impressed with Vaipan-Law & Digby at Nebelhorn, not a fluke!

 

[Belsornia]

I see that Kirsten Spours won the silver medal at Sofia Trophy this weekend with a score of 176.36, landing five clean triples in the long program.

Top 10 at Europeans is a possibility. 166.01 was the cutoff last season, which seems startling low to me.

You were right! Congrats to Kristen!

And also congrats to Ana Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby - their fifth place finish is the best result for a British pair since 1989 (when there were only 9 pairs in the competition).

 

[Belsornia]

Worlds team confirmed. (Ed Appleby, Kristen Spours, Vaipan-Law/Digby, Fear/Gibson, Bekker/Hernandez)

Zero surprises as no-one else has the minimums. Nina Povey withdrew from a senior B this week so didn't have a chance to get the mimimums and a reserve spot; I hope she's not injured again.

Also Team Icicles from Nottingham confirmed for Synchro Worlds.

 

[Belsornia]

Liam Carr announced his retirement earlier today on IG -

Liam Carr on Instagram: "I would like to take a moment to announce my retirement from skating. I am so grateful to all the coaches that have helped shape me into the person I am today From my very first coach Kathy Bleak, all the way to my most recen

242 likes, 13 comments - liamtgcarr on July 30, 2024: "I would like to take a moment to announce my retirement from skating. I am so grateful to all the coaches that have helped shape me into the person I am today From my very first coach Kathy Bleak, all the way to my most recent coaches, John...

www.instagram.com

Hopefully Layla will find a new partner.

Layla Karnes is entered in the US Solo Ice Dance International this weekend. According to her IG bio she's still looking for a new partner.

 

[millyskate]

Does anyone know when Sheffield individual event tickets are likely to go on sale and has there been any indication for potential price?
I'm currently debating buying an all-event ticket

 

[SandraMGfan]

Does anyone know when Sheffield individual event tickets are likely to go on sale and has there been any indication for potential price?
I'm currently debating buying an all-event ticket

Should be early summer and prices will range from £40 to £70 most likely.
All TBC from OC!

 

[Aceon6]

I'm currently debating buying an all-event ticket

There’s one left in 116 and a bunch on the right side of 115. If you can swing it, all event will be a lot cheaper

 

[millyskate]

Yes since i need to get two i think it will be up in the rafters for us sadly but it will still be fun - thanks a lot for the info.

 

[Belsornia]

Layla Karnes is entered in the US Solo Ice Dance International this weekend.

And she won.


A few bits of pre-Worlds news:

Looks like Kristen Spours has changed her SP since Euros. Her ISU bio isn't updated, but she won the silver medal at the Maria Olszewska Memorial over the weekend and skated to Paolo Nutini's Iron Sky.

Nice interview with Ana Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby from Europe on Ice. They talk about the injuries which took them out of singles and the decision to try pairs, the challenges of learning pairs elements (all those invalid death spirals!) and the support from Ice Dundee including some funding (though they both coach and Luke has a non-skating job), as well as their experiences this season and goal of qualifying for the Olympics.

Entries for the March Qualifier. As usual this one's a bit thin on the ground, but we do have both Lloyd Thomson and Tao MacRae entered on the back of Junior Worlds, and Isla Shenton / Joel Kirby moving up to juniors in pairs.