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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.<\/b><\/p>\n
After a brief pause, he gave a concise answer: “They have to be flawless.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But bronze remains within grasp for Fear and Gibson.<\/p>\n The ‘Disco Brits’ are the darlings of British figure skating – as was evident at last month’s European Championships in Sheffield.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Their Spice Girls-themed routine drew applause from the band’s official account on Instagram.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n