Lewis Gibson

Lewis Gibson (born 1 May 1994) is a Scottish ice dancer who represents Great Britain. With his skating partner, Lilah Fear, he is the 2019 Skate Canada bronze medalist, the 2016 CS Lombardia Trophy silver medalist, the 2019 CS Autumn Classic silver medalist, the 2018 Bavarian Open champion, and a two-time British national champion (2017, 2019).

Gibson was born on 1 May 1994 in Prestwick, Scotland. He was raised in Prestwick and played football before becoming interested in skating.

Early career

Gibson began skating in 2006 in Scotland, training at Ayr Ice Rink and Stevenston's Auchenharvie Leisure Centre. He cited the first series of Dancing on Ice, hosted by British ice dance champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, as his initial inspiration to begin skating. In addition to his career in men's singles, he competed in pairs for two seasons. In 2010–11, he and Heather Murdoch won the novice pairs title at the British Championships. They received the bronze medal the following season.

As a single skater, Gibson was coached by Jennifer Holmes at Ayr and Auchenharvie rinks before moving up to the junior international level. He then went on to train under Leanne Collins in East Kilbride, Scotland. Competing on the senior level, he won silver at the British Championships in November 2013. In the 2014–15 season, he appeared at two Challenger Series competitions, placing thirteenth at the Lombardia Trophy and Volvo Open Cup, and took the silver medal at the Hamar Trophy in Norway. He ended his singles' career in December 2015.

2016–2017 season

Gibson began a partnership with Lilah Fear, coached by Karen Quinn at the Alexandra Palace Ice Rink in London, England, and by Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The duo made their international debut in late July 2016 at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International, finishing eleventh. Ranked second in both segments, they received the silver medal at a Challenger Series event, the Lombardia Trophy in September. They placed fifth at the International Cup of Nice and fourth at the Open d'Andorra. In December, they won the British national title, in the absence of Penny Coomes / Nicholas Buckland, and silver at the Santa Claus Cup in Hungary.

In January 2017, Fear/Gibson qualified to the final segment at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic; they ranked 19th in the short dance, 14th in the free dance, and 15th overall. They made their World Championship debut later that season, placing 22nd.

2017–2018 season

Beginning their second season together, Fear/Gibson placed sixth at the International Cup of Nice and won silver medals at the Open d'Andorra and the Ice Challenge. They competed in three Challenger events that season, placing ninth at both the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and fourth at the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup. Competing at the British Championships, they won the silver medal, this time behind a returning Coomes/Buckland. They subsequently competed at the Santa Claus Cup again, placing fourth.

At the end of the season, they were again sent as the United Kingdom's representation to the 2018 World Championships, placing 24th.

2018–2019 season

Wanting to challenge themselves, Fear/Gibson selected for their free dance a disco medley of songs by Donna Summer and Earth, Wind and Fire. Both professed as well to be fans of the genre. Gibson said, "A lot of the routines of recent times have been very slow and lyrical, but we wanted to do something fun and something that would stand out to help us make a name for ourselves."

Fear/Gibson began their season with two Challenger assignments, placing fourth at the 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy and fifth at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy. In October 2018, the two finished fifth at the 2018 Skate America – their Grand Prix debut. A month later, they improved their placement by finishing fourth at the 2018 NHK Trophy, achieving new personal bests in the free dance and overall score, and ranking second in the free dance.

After winning their second British national title, Fear/Gibson next competed at the 2019 European Championships, placing seventh in the rhythm dance and sixth in the free, for sixth place overall.They were pleased with the result, Gibson commenting that they "came in with the goal of a top-ten finish after we came 15th two years ago. Now we’ve managed to get two spots for Great Britain next year which is really exciting."At the 2019 World Championships they placed thirteenth, having made the free dance for the first time.

2019–2020 season

Fear/Gibson began the season on the Challenger series, winning the silver medal at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International after placing fifth in the rhythm dance and second in the free dance. At their second Challenger, the 2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, they placed sixth in the rhythm dance and third in the free, for fourth place overall.Assigned to two Grand Prix events, they began at 2019 Skate Canada International, where they placed fourth in the rhythm dance and third in the free skate, taking the bronze medal.This was the team's first Grand Prix medal, and the first for a British team since 2014.Gibson remarked: "For us, this is huge. We didn’t expect it." Competing again at the NHK Trophy, they were fourth in the rhythm dance, earning a perfect score on the Finnstep pattern dance for the first time.They were third in the free dance, remaining in fourth place overall.

At the 2020 British Championships, Fear/Gibson placed first in the rhythm dance even though Fear had fallen out of the twizzles, and placed first in the free winning their third national title by 73.37 points.

Ice dance with Fear

Men's singles

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series

Ice dance with Fear

Men's singles

Pairs with Murdoch