2026 Winter Olympics: GB’s Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson miss out on figure skating medal
Fear, 26, and Gibson, 31, finished fourth after the first part of the ice dance competition, the rhythm dance, and they were left to work. They received 85.47 points in the rhythm dance, placing third behind Gilles and Poirier.
This meant Fear and Gibson needed to deliver a standout performance in their Scottish-themed free dance to win Britain’s first medal of the 2026 Winter Games.
Resplendent in their tartan outfits, they danced to The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, Auld Lang Syne and The Proclaimers’ hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles); with a routine they developed with highland dance experts to perfect the choreography.
And it started off spectacularly, with great success in the complex opening, a multi-stage fixed lift.
But the fear visibly wavered as they progressed to their second element: the successive stumbles that occurred while moving across the ice. This meant they received a negative score on execution, a fatal blow in the Olympic final.
They then skated cleanly and achieved good scores in their thrilling finish – a combination of a series of Highland jigs and a dance lift – but the damage was done as their overall technique scores dropped greatly.
It was obvious on their faces that they knew they weren’t perfect. Horror looked nervous before the routine and devastated afterward as it became clear the pressure was telling.
The ‘Disco Brits’ are the darlings of British figure skating and are popular internationally for their lively, skilful routines.
And they had an impressive year in which they became the first Briton to medal at the World Championships in 40 years; They also reached the podium in their home country’s European Championships in Sheffield. But there won’t be an Olympic medal to top it off.
Britain’s other representatives, Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, reached the final stage of their first Olympics at the ages of 24 and 20 respectively and finished 17th with a season’s best overall score of 179.45.
