2025-26 British and Irish figure skating | Golden Skate

2025-26 British and Irish figure skating

FlossieH

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 2, 2022
United-Kingdom
This thread is for discussing British and Irish skating and skaters. There should be lots for us to talk about this year, with the European Championships in Sheffield and our (at the time of writing) having qualified Olympic spots in three of the four disciplines!

The following skaters will be representing GBR or IRL in the Grand Prix, Junior Grand Prix and Challenger Series events.

Junior Grand Prix entries

JGP Riga (20-23 August)
Edward Solovyov (GBR, men)
Alice Smith (GBR, ladies)
Neamh Davison/Daniel Borisov (GBR, pairs)
Ashlie Slatter/Louis Gregory (GBR, ice dance)

JGP Ankara (27-30 August)
Neamh Davison/Daniel Borisov (GBR, pairs)
Mimi Marler-Davies/Joseph Black (GBR, ice dance)

JGP Varese (3-6 September)
Annabel Mann/Jack Hammond (GBR, ice dance)

JGP Bangkok (9-13 September)
Zarah Wood/Alex Lapsky (GBR, pairs)

JGP Baku (24-27 September)
None

JGP Solidarity Cup, Gdansk (1-4 October)
Lloyd Thomson (GBR, men)
Emma Lyons (GBR, ladies)
Julianna Farrell (IRL, ladies)
Zarah Wood/Alex Lapsky (GBR, pairs)
Mimi Marler-Davies/Joseph Black (GBR, ice dance)

JGP Abu Dhabi (8-11 October)
Tao Macrae (GBR, men)
Alice Smith (GBR, ladies)
Ashlie Slatter/Louis Gregory (GBR, ice dance)

Senior Grand Prix entries
Grand Prix de France (17-19 October)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR, ice dance)

Cup of China (24-26 October)

Skate Canada (31 October - 2 November)
Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby (GBR, pairs)

NHK Trophy (7-9 November)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR, ice dance)

Skate America (14-16 November)
Phebe Bekker/James Hernadez (GBR, ice dance)

Finlandia Trophy (21-23 November)
Phebe Bekker/James Hernadez (GBR, ice dance) (added as replacement 14 Nov)

Challenger Series entries

Kinoshita Group Cup (5-7 September)
Tao Macrae (GBR)

Lombardia Trophy (11-14 September)

Andreij Nepela Memorial (25-27 September)
Nina Povey (GBR)

Nebelhorn Trophy (25-27 September)
Ken Fitterer (GBR)
Lucas Fitterer (GBR)
Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby (GBR, pairs)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR, ice dance)

Trialeti Trophy (8-11 October)
Phebe Bekker/James Hernadez (GBR ice dance)

Warsaw Cup (19-23 November)
Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby (GBR, pairs)
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (IRL, ice dance)

Tallinn Trophy (25-30 November)
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (IRL, ice dance)

Golden Spin of Zagreb (3-5 December)
Neamh Davison/Daniel Borisov (GBR, pairs)
 
Last edited:
The following skaters have been selected to represent GBR or IRL at the European, Junior World or World Championships.

European Championships
Men
Ed Appleby (GBR)

Ladies
Kristen Spours (GBR)
Nina Povey (GBR)

Pairs
Anastasia Vaipan Law/Luke Digby (GBR)

Ice dance
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (GBR)
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez (GBR)

Junior World Championships
TBC

World Championships
TBC
 
Last edited:
GBR has, to date, qualified one Olympic spot for ladies and for pairs, and two spots for ice dance. IRL has not qualified any spots to date, but I imagine that Soucisse and Firus will have another try for ice dance at the Beijing qualifier in September.

The following skaters will be representing us at the Olympic Games

Women
Kristen Spours

Pairs
Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby

Ice Dance (two spots)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez

Team event only
Ed Appleby
 
Last edited:
Technical minimums - Men (GBR)

Worlds (104 changed to 109)
Edward Appleby

Euros (86)
Edward Appleby
Lucas Fitterer (gained at Robin Cousins Cup, Aug 2025)

Junior worlds (80)
Edward Solovyov
Lloyd Thomson
Tao Macrae
Arin Yorke

(Note - I am using Skating scores for this and the subsequent CTES posts. I am not certain whether everyone who is show as having the Junior Worlds minimums is still age eligible for Juniors and do now know where to find that information!)
 
Last edited:
Technical minimums - women (GBR)

Worlds (90 lowered to 88)
Kristen Spours

Euros (75)
Nina Povey
Kristen Spours

Junior Worlds (72)
Alice Smith
Leilah Pattern
Arina Vorbeva
 
Last edited:
Technical minimums -pairs (GBR)

Worlds (88 changed to 91)
Anastasia Vaipan Law/Luke Digby

Euros (75)
Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby

Junior Worlds (63)
Zarah Wood/Alex Lapsky
Neamh Davison/Daniel Borisov (gained John Nicks Pairs Challenge, Sept)
 
Last edited:
Technical minimums - Ice dance (GBR)

Worlds (94 changed to 98)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez

Euros (85)
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez
Sophia Bushell/Antonio Pena (gained Denkova-Staviski Cup, Nov 2025)

Junior Worlds (71)
Mimi Marler-Davies/Joseph Black
Ashlie Slatter/Louis Gregory (gained JGP UAE, Oct 2025)
 
Last edited:
Technical minimums - Ireland

Worlds
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (Ice dance)

Euros
Carolane Soucisse/Shane Firus (Ice dance)

Junior Worlds
No-one
 
(Note - I am using Skating scores for this and the subsequent CTES posts. I am not certain whether everyone who is show as having the Junior Worlds minimums is still age eligible for Juniors and do now know where to find that information!)
Anything GOEs has a list of skaters who are aging out this season based on their ISU bios - https://anythinggoe.com/agingout2425/

From it:

Women
Saskia Zainchkovskaya (GBR)
Sophia Tkacheva (IRL)
Ciera Francesca Turner-Frick (IRL)

Men
Lucas Fitterer (GBR)
Jedidiah Lincoln (GBR)
Luke Woodthorpe-Smith (GBR)

Ice Dance
Molly Hairsine / Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev (GBR)
Kiah Whieldon / Jamie Hammond (GBR)
 
Anything GOEs has a list of skaters who are aging out this season based on their ISU bios - https://anythinggoe.com/agingout2425/

From it:

Women
Saskia Zainchkovskaya (GBR)
Sophia Tkacheva (IRL)
Ciera Francesca Turner-Frick (IRL)

Men
Lucas Fitterer (GBR)
Jedidiah Lincoln (GBR)
Luke Woodthorpe-Smith (GBR)

Ice Dance
Molly Hairsine / Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev (GBR)
Kiah Whieldon / Jamie Hammond (GBR)
Thanks Saine, that's really helpful. :)
 
I completely forgot that the Dundee Open and the Irish Championships were being held over the weekend. :palmf:


The Irish Championships finished yesterday. But the British competition concludes today.

With regards the Irish Championships.

Neither Sophia TKACHEVA (Wexford) nor Ciera Francesca TURNER-FRICK (Cork) were entered at any level.

In Junior Ladies, Allie PETERSON (Galway) withdrew at some stage between the Provisional Entry list being announced and the Entries / Results going up, while Saoirse O'SULLIVAN (Tipperary) was a later withdrawal. But there were two new girls competing. Julianna FARRELL (Cork), who has arrived from America, and Eeva O'BRIEN (Wicklow), who has arrived from Switzerland.

Yes, Eeva is Milla O'Brien's sister.

Still no sign of Milla finding a new partner. 😞 So, Carolane SOUCISSE / Shane FIRUS (Wexford) are still the only entries in Senior Ice Dance.

My fellow Ulsterman, Dillon JUDGE (Antrim), was the only entry in Senior Men. And new girl Lexie GRAHAM (Carlow), who has arrived from France, was the only entry in Advanced Novice Ladies.

CaroLiza_fan
 
I completely forgot that the Dundee Open and the Irish Championships were being held over the weekend. :palmf:


The Irish Championships finished yesterday. But the British competition concludes today.

With regards the Irish Championships.

Neither Sophia TKACHEVA (Wexford) nor Ciera Francesca TURNER-FRICK (Cork) were entered at any level.

In Junior Ladies, Allie PETERSON (Galway) withdrew at some stage between the Provisional Entry list being announced and the Entries / Results going up, while Saoirse O'SULLIVAN (Tipperary) was a later withdrawal. But there were two new girls competing. Julianna FARRELL (Cork), who has arrived from America, and Eeva O'BRIEN (Wicklow), who has arrived from Switzerland.

Yes, Eeva is Milla O'Brien's sister.

Still no sign of Milla finding a new partner. 😞 So, Carolane SOUCISSE / Shane FIRUS (Wexford) are still the only entries in Senior Ice Dance.

My fellow Ulsterman, Dillon JUDGE (Antrim), was the only entry in Senior Men. And new girl Lexie GRAHAM (Carlow), who has arrived from France, was the only entry in Advanced Novice Ladies.

CaroLiza_fan
My cousin in Dundee was volunteering today, so I knew about that. But she didn't mention the Irish championships so I didn't see any of that, just an announcement list of the placings :(.
 
My cousin in Dundee was volunteering today, so I knew about that. But she didn't mention the Irish championships so I didn't see any of that, just an announcement list of the placings :(.

Ah, good. I hope she has thoroughly enjoyed herself!

I didn't have a chance to have a good look through the Dundee Open Entries / Results page before I had my breakfast, but I did just now and it was so encouraging to see so many skaters from so many Scottish clubs taking part.

Hopefully this is a good sign for the future.

Unfortunately, there were only two girls entered from the Dundonald club over here in NI. Both are names I am familiar with:

  • Madison MOORE in both segments of National 7 (i.e. Juniors)
  • Jodie DOWLING in the Non-ISU FS of National 6 (i.e. Advanced Novices)

For the benefit of those that are not familiar with the skaters, the Non-ISU competitions are for skaters that are outside the age ranges that the ISU use for those levels. Jodie is actually in her mid-20's. But, as it turned out, she withdrew.

Madison was there, though, and finished 7th out of 12 in the SP, and 10th out of 13 in the FS.

:cheer: WELL DONE MADISON!!! :cheer:

CaroLiza_fan
 
Ah, good. I hope she has thoroughly enjoyed herself!

I didn't have a chance to have a good look through the Dundee Open Entries / Results page before I had my breakfast, but I did just now and it was so encouraging to see so many skaters from so many Scottish clubs taking part.

Hopefully this is a good sign for the future.

Unfortunately, there were only two girls entered from the Dundonald club over here in NI. Both are names I am familiar with:

  • Madison MOORE in both segments of National 7 (i.e. Juniors)
  • Jodie DOWLING in the Non-ISU FS of National 6 (i.e. Advanced Novices)

For the benefit of those that are not familiar with the skaters, the Non-ISU competitions are for skaters that are outside the age ranges that the ISU use for those levels. Jodie is actually in her mid-20's. But, as it turned out, she withdrew.

Madison was there, though, and finished 7th out of 12 in the SP, and 10th out of 13 in the FS.

:cheer: WELL DONE MADISON!!! :cheer:

CaroLiza_fan
So they combine an adult competition with ones for younger skaters in both recreational and "serious" streams, all on the same days? What a great format! Makes for a bigger event with, I'd hope, a bigger audience. I know several families with parent and child skaters who would both enter if they'd combine adult classes with the kids' events in local competitions here. :ghug:
 
This is such an exciting time for British Ice Dance. I think we have potentially 8 teams competing at senior level at Nationals this year:
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson
Phebe Bekker/James Hernandez
Lily Matthias/Henry Privett-Mendoza
Molly Hairsine/Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev
Kiah Whieldon/Jamie Hammond
Sophia Bushell/Antonia Pena
Eleanor Hirst/Anthony Currie
Charlotte Man/Toby Palmer
 
Kristen Spours had surgery for her disc herniation. Hopefully she'll be healthy for the Olympics :pray:

 
She sounds positive at least. Hoping she can make it to the Olympics; she did the hard graft to qualify so it would be cruel if she were denied the opportunity to compete there. I suspect it's likely to be her final season either way; her body is clearly being held together by tape at this point
 
Exciting news - looks like there's another new British senior Ice Dance team - Dana Sabatini-Speciale and Daniel Kaye are training with Barbara Fusar Poli's coaching team in Italy. Dana skated for Canada previously and Daniel won British solo ice dance at junior level.

More information over in the Retirements. Splits and New Partnerships thread...
 
Back
Top