Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson ended their 2025/26 season at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, and their popular free dance for the season was nominated at this year’s ISU Figure Skating Awards. Having made their Winter Olympic debut for Team GB at the Beijing Games in 2022, this year, Lilah and Lewis once again represented Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Milan, where Lilah was flag bearer at the opening ceremony, and their first event at the Games was the Team event with fellow Great Britain skaters Anastasia Vaipan-Law & Luke Digby, Kristen Spours and Edward Appleby in the Team event, which saw Lilah and Lewis’s personal best score in the rhythm dance. At this year’s European Figure Skating Championships in front of a home crowd, Lilah and Lewis won their fourth consecutive European medal, and with the 2026/27 season now started, they are performing this year’s programs – Sparkling Diamond and Gipsy Kings. Ahead of this year’s figure skating season, we spoke to Lilah and Lewis about representing Team GB at the Winter Olympics, their fourth consecutive European medal and ending their 2025/26 season in Prague.
How did you feel closing the 2025/26 Olympic season at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague and performing this season’s routines for the final time?
Lilah – It was emotional performing them for the last time because we put so much into them and it was such a significant and meaningful year for us. So for it all to come together, and to have the two skates that we had been yearning for all season, to end such a monumental season, it was very, very special.
You represented Team GB at your second Winter Olympics earlier this year in Milan; how different did you find these Games to your debut in 2022, and what did you enjoy most about competing in Italy?
Lewis – Massively different. First of all, it being open, having people around, having an audience, and being in a village where we could socialise and move around. It made the whole experience so much more incredible. We didn’t know what we were missing in 2022, but having now experienced all of that, it just makes me want to go back again. You can really feel the craze and the buzz around an Olympic Games when it’s like that.
Lilah – And competing in Italy, we both loved the coffee. Strong coffee. And tiramisu.
What is it like attending the opening and closing ceremonies, and Lilah, how was it being the British flag bearer at the opening ceremony?
Lilah – We didn’t attend the opening ceremony in Beijing because we weren’t there yet, and with all the COVID caution, I think it would have been quite stressful. So it was really, really fun to do both the opening and closing ceremony here and to feel that unity with Team GB, because it genuinely felt like a team. Walking out together, and the scale of the stadium, is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was so crazy. And then to hold the flag as well was such an unbelievable honour. I keep forgetting it happened actually, but it was such a special memory and one of the highlights of the Games for sure.
How do you typically stay focused during the Olympics as a major international multi-sport competition, and how is it staying in the athletes’ village as part of Team GB?
Lilah – Energy management is a big one.
Lewis – I actually think we were fairly lucky compared to other disciplines. There were maybe two days between the team event and the rhythm dance, then a day in between, so nothing was back-to-back, but nothing was too far apart either. We were able to stay in that bubble for about a week in total, which felt manageable. It didn’t feel too difficult. But I could see some other people where it was like, my gosh, you’ve still got to compete, and it was over a week later from when they first did the team event.
Lilah – The village was so fun, just being in the same corridor as all of Team GB, and having that feeling of home in such an unfamiliar place. With a lot of emotion, having that safe space was really nice. And all the British snacks they brought, that was really cute.
Then going out into the village, they had a lot of different fun activations for the athletes. I love meeting new people, so being surrounded by so many incredible athletes, sitting down to a lot of communal meals and having opportunities to connect was really energising, and also tiring in other ways. So it was a balance to navigate.
For your first event of the Winter Olympics you skated your rhythm dance in the Team event, alongside Anastasia Vaipan-Law & Luke Digby, Kristen Spours and Edward Appleby, how was it achieving a new personal best score?
Lewis – It was amazing just having that support and seeing them right at the end of the ice while we were competing. Even for us, it was a real moment of, ‘Oh, we’ve really just done this’, because we ended that in third place, and we had never done that in the rhythm dance with all the teams there in one event. That was so special. It felt like such a reward for all of the effort of the whole year.
How was it winning your fourth consecutive European medal at this year’s European Figure Skating Championships, and performing in front of a home crowd at the Utilita Arena Sheffield?
Lilah – For me, it was less about the medal and more the life memory of having the European Championships at home. The amount of support we felt was quite overwhelming, in the best way. The noise in the arena, and the awareness that we’re performing for people we can hopefully inspire to take up skating at home, it was really significant. We were so proud to host the other athletes and to give them Sheffield recommendations.
It was a great send-off to the Games too. Feeling the support of Great Britain meant that, when we were in Milan, we knew where that stemmed from.
Your programs last season were very popular with fans, audiences and social media; how was it having your free dance nominated for Most Entertaining Program at the 2026 ISU Figure Skating Awards, and seeing the Spice Girls interact with your Spice Girls medley rhythm dance?
Lewis – For people to acknowledge and recognise what we create is really cool in the first place. For me, the fact that the artist of the music you skate to actually gets to see it and appreciates it as well is just wild. And it’s not just anyone, the Spice Girls are mega. They’re huge. And, of course, they’re British, and all of that is amazing too.
The ISU Award nomination was a nice recognition, because the programme was also very unique in itself. I liked the take that we brought to it, and trying to make it feel like something that was attainable for all of the viewers.
How is it preparing for exhibition gala performances, and what do you enjoy about these routines?
Lilah – It’s always fun to perform, and to have less restriction, just kind of doing whatever we want.
Lewis – It’s a nice opportunity to do something that we’re just unable to do in a competitive space. This last season, we brought the giant skates onto the ice, and using props, being able to embellish a programme in a different way, is something I really enjoy.
What was it like becoming Olympians in 2022, and what are some of your favourite memories from your Olympic debut in Beijing?
Lilah – Exploring the village was really fun because there was a lot there: a little mall, a hair salon, a gift shop. Obviously the dining hall was really fun, seeing all the athletes, and just feeling like we were in an experience we’d never had before and discovering it for the first time.
And then skating across the rings for the first time. It was the practice rink, but I’d never skated on Olympic rings as an Olympian – or soon to-be Olympian – and I was just in awe. That really stands out.
Lewis – For me, it was the act of becoming an Olympian, because I was very much aware when we got there that we were not one until we completed the competition. So it was about making sure that we got there, not getting COVID and not getting injured. All those things made it more special just to become an Olympian.
Do you have a favourite aspect of competing together in ice dance, and can you tell us about some of your further stand-out highlights from your figure skating careers so far?
Lilah – I love how live it is. For both of us, we have to unite and we have to come together. We’re already so aligned, but it’s the moment where we both have to just be in that energy. It’s showtime: commit, perform, and it counts in the moment, and that’s it.
There’s an electricity about that you can’t replace, and I think we’ll miss it when we don’t have it anymore. And then also just performing for people because that’s something we’ve loved ever since we were little. Just to realise that you’re bringing joy to someone and helping them in their day in some way, in ways we might not even know. I don’t take that for granted. It means a lot to me.
Lewis – For me, it’s more the shared experiences. When you’re doing it with someone else, you might remember something, or have a different little experience that you’re able to relate to or be brought back to. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we did do that’. I think that’s really cool because it’s so easy to forget what we’ve done over the years.
What do you remember from your first competition together in 2016?
Lilah – Streatham. I remember being backstage before going out, but I don’t remember skating.
Lewis – What’s funny is I don’t even remember being nervous. I had switched from singles to dance, so I was on this train of, well, everything’s easier. I was not aware of how bad I was. It was like, ‘Well, it’s just a twizzle, just a lift, whatever, it’s not difficult. We’ve repeated it a million times anyway’. I was very naive to the whole world, so I’m happy that we were accepted well at that point in time. But I remember it being kind of easy.
Can you tell us about your typical training day, and how much has it changed over the years?
Lilah – We skate about four hours a day, and we usually skate in the mornings, partly because I’m starting school again, but also so we can do off-ice afterwards. After skating, we’ll do off-ice of some sort, whether that’s cardio, strength and conditioning, or dance class.
Now we’ve really added in more recovery, having realised the value in it, so more breaks in our day to be fresh for workouts, and then treatment, whether that’s acupuncture, physio, massage or osteopathy. Really taking that side of things more seriously means we’re able to be fresh Monday through Friday.
Have you been given any advice over your time in figure skating so far that has stuck with you?
Lilah – Patrice said this once, and he didn’t realise how deep it was: do the hard things that make what you want easy. For me, that represents the work ethic, doing the things that people are not willing to do, and the sheer commitment, so that you’re able to let the work shine when it counts, and for it to flow freely.
Lewis – I can’t think of one thing, but it’s nice when you just hear the right thing at the right time. Yesterday, in the locker room, there was the younger French team, and as he was leaving he said, ‘Have fun’. And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, actually, yes’.
Do you have any favourite skaters to watch, either current or retired, and any other favourite sports to follow?
Lilah – Tessa (Virtue) and Scott (Moir), always, for me. Even this year, we were looking through some old videos, looking through footage of past skaters for some inspiration, and I’m always just so drawn to their skating and the magic they had out there.
Lewis – My biggest one was Daisuke Takahashi. It was wild getting to compete against him. I’d only been skating four years, and had no notion of any of that world back then.
Lilah – And I’ve just taken up paddleboarding.
How do you choose your music for a new figure skating season, and how do you prepare to get competition-ready?
Lilah – I think we have to have certain ideas of the values that we hold, and us as a core, what’s important to us, but then also be really open to unexpected things that can find us. This year, with our free dance, we went through three or four concepts, and then we found Sparkling Diamond, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s it’. But we only got there because of what we had to go through before.
And then with Gipsy Kings, that came together very naturally. It wasn’t even a second thought. So I think it’s just being open to uncertainty, but then also trusting our intuition. When it lands, it lands.
What are you looking forward to most for this season?
Lilah – The growth. I really feel we’ve unlocked something in our potential this year, and with the new season and the new quad, I’m just really excited to keep developing.
Lewis – It seems weird to say, but competing. I realised here that, ‘Oh, I miss competing’, so it’s kind of nice to have that back.
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