At the end of a downbeat day for Team GB, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson failed to match their performance in the team event as they began their quest to become Great Britain’s first Olympic figure skating medallists since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in 1994.
They scored 84.57 in the rhythm dance, lower than their season best recorded in Milan on Friday. It leaves them fourth – 0.71 off the podium – going into Wednesday’s free dance where the medals will be decided.
Performing to their popular Spice Girls medley, Fear, 26, lost her balance slightly on the sequential twizzles. But they brought it back big time in the rhythm sequence and concluding rotational lift to keep themselves in the podium hunt. They will perform in tartan to a Scottish-inspired routine on Wednesday.
In gold medal position are France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, who set a season best with a huge score, 90.18. Cizeron won the Olympic title four years ago with Gabriela Papadakis, with who he has since had a very acrimonious split.
He partnered with Fournier Beaudry in November, who herself needed a new partner in controversial circumstances when her boyfriend Nikolaj Sorensen was suspended amid sexual assault allegations, external. She has since publicly defended Sorensen,, external who has denied wrongdoing.
On the ice, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron stormed to gold at the European Championships and are right in the mix for the Olympic title. Despite being ranked 25th in the world and performing sixth on the night, they held top spot for more than two hours after a technically perfect display to Madonna’s Vogue.
USA husband and wife Madison Chock and Evan Bates – who have already won gold in the team event and are three-time world champions – are in silver position after the final performance of the night scored 89.72.
Britain’s biggest rivals for a medal are likely to be Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who are currently third with 86.18.
Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri, who live and train in Fabbri’s home town of Milan, were very popular with the home fans but slightly underperformed. Their score of 84.28 leaves them in fifth.
Fear and Gibson’s compatriots James Hernandez and Phebe Bekker put on a season-best showing to secure their place in Wednesday’s final.
The duo, on Olympic debut, scored 72.46 with a clean rhythm dance performance to a George Michael soundtrack, ensuring they will return for the free skate.
It continues the young couple’s good form following an 11th place finish in January’s European Championship for Bekker, 20, and 24-year-old Hernandez.
