Torvill and Dean were the last British pairing to earn a Winter Olympic medal in the sport, at Lillehammer 1994, but Lilah Fear and her skating partner Lewis Gibson have been hotly tipped to end the drought at Milano-Cortina in February
Lilah Fear hopes a Spice Girls setlist can help turn the clock back to the 1990s and return Great Britain to figure skating’s Olympic podium.
Torvill and Dean were the last British pairing to earn a Winter Olympic medal in the sport, at Lillehammer 1994, but Fear and her skating partner Lewis Gibson have been hotly tipped to end the drought at Milano-Cortina in February.
They won World Championship bronze in Boston earlier this year and the pair are turning to the British pop icons in a bid to ensure they end on the podium on the biggest stage of all.
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“For the rhythm dance, they give you a theme each year and this year it was the 90s,” she said after being confirmed in the Team GB squad.
“That was great for us. We are the British team and have the European Championships in Sheffield in January, and we are so proud to represent Great Britain in an Olympic season.
“We are huge fans of the Spice Girls and every single song is banger so we couldn’t go wrong.
“We had so much fun with the creative side of that and showing our personalities in the five different Spice Girls on the ice.”
Fear and Gibson made their Olympic debuts at Beijing 2022, when they finished 10th and were contacted on social media by rock giants KISS, whose songs provided the backdrop to the short programme.
And the 26-year-old Londoner is daring to dream that Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Scary or Baby Spice might do likewise in February.
“We would lose it if that happened and be so beyond excited because we are such fans of theirs,” she said.
“They inspired us enormously and getting to portray all that the represent out on the Olympic ice, the empowerment, just being yourself and going for it in what you are passionate about, is so impactful for us.
“It would be amazing if they supported in any way.”
Fear and Gibson are Britain’s most decorated ice dance pairing of all time, recently earning their eighth national title as well as a second consecutive bronze at the prestigious ISU Grand Prix Final.
Such results have ramped up expectations and Gibson is embracing the pressure.
“If people were not saying [we could medal] then I would be wishing they were,” he said.
“The support we have, and our results, of course brings a bit of pressure but at the same time it is amazing.
“It has been a crazy 10 years (with Lilah). Of course we started off with goals but being able to smash them and be where we are now is just wild. We always want more.
“We really wanted to focus on our growth throughout the year and notice our improvements and things we still need to work on.
“It’s about keeping that moving along ahead of a really exciting Olympics.”
Follow Team GB on the road to Milan Cortina 2026 at www.teamgb.com and across socials @TeamGB