As we debriefed Monday’s action, I asked former Olympic figure skating champion Robin Cousins what Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson need to do to win an ice dance medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
After a brief pause, he gave a concise answer: “They have to be flawless.”
Fear and Gibson – aiming to be the first Britons since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in 1994 to win an Olympic figure skating medal – are in fourth place after the rhythm dance.
In the first half of the ice dance competition at Milan-Cortina, they performed to their popular Spice Girls mix – but could not match the season-best score they secured in the team event three days earlier.
Fear, 26, lost her balance slightly at one point, but she and her partner recovered well to keep themselves firmly in the hunt for a podium finish.
Their score of 84.57 points left them 0.71 behind third-placed Canadian duo Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier going into Wednesday’s free dance, when the medals will be decided.
Gold and silver are probably out of reach. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron lead with a huge 90.18. World champions and pre-event favourites Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who have already won gold in the team event for the US, are in second on 89.72.
But bronze remains within grasp for Fear and Gibson.
The ‘Disco Brits’ are the darlings of British figure skating – as was evident at last month’s European Championships in Sheffield.
You could have your photo taken on the arena concourse with a pleasure-beach style cut-out – your face on the bodies of Fear and Gibson.
Their Spice Girls-themed routine drew applause from the band’s official account on Instagram.
There were even misty-eyed stories of how the last time the European Figure Skating Championships were held in Sheffield in 2012, Fear was a flower girl.
But amid all the glitz and hype, the hard truth is that while they are definitely good enough for a medal, this is such a competitive field that any error is costly.
Fear and Gibson won bronze in Sheffield, but it could – maybe should – have been more. In just the second element of nine in their free routine, Gibson slipped slightly into the synchronised twizzles, and gold was gone.
