Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson aim to follow in skate tracks of Torvill and Dean

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as Torvill and Dean at Beijing 2022.

On Saturday (12 February), the British duo started their ice dance campaign in the rhythm dance and placed 10th with 76.45 points.

They will compete in the free dance at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday - 38 years to the day after Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean made history at Sarajevo 1984.

Great Britain have not won a Winter Olympics figure skating medal since Lillehammer 1994 when Torvill and Dean claimed ice dance bronze.

That came 10 years after their historic gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games when their 'Bolero' routine bewitched the audience at the Zetra Olympic Ice Hall and 24 million people watching on TV back in Britain.

The duo were awarded a row of perfect sixes, a record score that will never be repeated following the changes made to the judging system in the 2000s.

Fear and Gibson finished seventh at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm a year after their sixth at the Europeans indicated a bright future on the international stage.

Comparisons to Torvill and Dean are inevitable, but Fear and Gibson are more honoured than daunted to be spoken of alongside the Olympic champions.

Gibson told Scotland's Herald: "They are such an inspiration and we’re incredibly grateful to be even mentioned in the same sentence as Torvill and Dean.

"I love that they’re still so current today – it shows what a legacy they created and just how huge they were. They were real trailblazers and they were so creative and for Lilah and I, that’s something we’re really inspired by.

"We try to think outside the box in terms of the elements we do and I think that’s something we have in common with them." -