Lilah Fear

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lilah Fear
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson - 2019 Skate Canada - 1.jpg
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson at the 2019 Skate Canada
Personal information
Country represented Great Britain
Born (1999-06-11) 11 June 1999 (age 22)
Greenwich, United States
Home townLondon, England
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
PartnerLewis Gibson
Former partnerJacob Payne
CoachRomain Haguenauer, Patrice Lauzon, Marie-France Dubreuil
Former coachKaren Quinn
ChoreographerRomain Haguenauer, Samuel Chouinard, Ginette Cournoyer
Former choreographerPhillip Poole
Skating clubAlexandra Palace London
Training locationsMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Former training locationsSlough, England
Began skating2004
ISU personal best scores
Combined total196.92
2021 World Figure Skating Championships
Short dance77.42
2021 World Figure Skating Championships
Free dance119.50
2021 World Figure Skating Championships

Lilah Fear (born 11 June 1999) is an English-Canadian ice dancer. Representing the United Kingdom with her skating partner, Lewis Gibson, she is a two-time Grand Prix bronze medalist, a three-time Challenger medalist, the 2018 Bavarian Open champion, and a four-time British national champion (2017, 2019–2020, 2022).

Personal life[]

Fear was born on 11 June 1999 in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States,[1] to Canadian parents.[2] She was raised in London, England, and attended South Hampstead High School.[3][4] Fear is a tri British-Canadian-American citizen.[5] She has a younger sister, Sasha, who competes in ice dance for Great Britain with her partner George Waddell. She also has an older sister, Georgia, who was a nationally ranked cross country and track athlete at Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia.

In the fall of 2018, she began studying psychology and communications at McGill University in Montreal.[2]

Career[]

Early career[]

Fear began learning to skate in 2004.[1] In the 2013–14 season, she and Jacob Payne won the novice ice dancing title at the British Championships.

In 2014–15, Fear/Payne received two Junior Grand Prix assignments and placed 15th at both. In November 2014, they were awarded the junior bronze medal at the British Championships. They were coached by Phillip Poole in Slough, England.[6]

2016–2017 season[]

Fear began a partnership with Lewis Gibson, coached by Karen Quinn at the Alexandra Palace Ice Rink in London, England,[3] and by Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[7] 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.[2] 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."[8] The free dance proved to be a huge success with audiences, facilitating what would be a dramatic rise up the international standings. Fear later credited it as "a lucky choice, and from there it completely redirected us to where we see ourselves going, what we feel is our style and what makes us unique."[9]

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."[10] At the 2019 World Championships they placed thirteenth, having made the free dance for the first time.

2019–2020 season[]

After the success of their disco free dance the previous season, Fear and Gibson chose a Madonna medley for their new free dance, aiming to continue the momentum of past success with audience-pleasing choices. For the rhythm dance, required to be musical-themed, Gibson identified tracks from The Blues Brothers. Fear remarked that they "knew that could get the crowd on its feet, hopefully, and people would be tapping their toes."[9]

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."[11][12] 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.[13] They were third in the free dance, remaining in fourth place overall.[14]

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.[15] In what proved to be their final event of the season, they competed at the 2020 European Championships and placed sixth in the rhythm dance, with Fear losing a twizzle level and them getting only one of the four keypoints on the Finnstepp pattern dance.[16] Fifth in the free dance, they rose to fifth place overall.[17] They had been assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[18]

2020–2021 season[]

Fear/Gibson were assigned to the 2020 Skate Canada International, but this event was also cancelled as a result of the pandemic.[19] As there were no British championships for the season as a result of the pandemic, on December 3 they were named to Britain's team for the European Championships, alongside Fear's younger sister Sasha.[20] The competition was cancelled on December 10.[21]

Fear/Gibson were again named to represent Britain at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, where they placed eighth in the rhythm dance before moving up to seventh place in the free dance, surpassing the Canadian team Fournier Beaudry/Sørensen by 0.04 points. Their results qualified a second dance berth for Great Britain at the following year's World Championships, and the possibility of a second place at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.[22]

2021–2022 season[]

For their new free dance for the season, Fear/Gibson chose Hans Zimmer's soundtrack from The Lion King, citing it as a "universal" story about "finding your inner strength."[23]

Fear/Gibson began the season at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, winning the bronze medal.[24] At their first Grand Prix assignment, the 2021 Skate Canada International, Fear/Gibson made errors in both segments of the competition, ending up in an unexpectedly low seventh place. Gibson said it was "not what we wanted to do, but we felt strong and connected in the free dance."[23] Following this, they dedicated intensive training time in the short interval before their second event, the 2021 NHK Trophy. Third in both segments there despite a twizzle error from Gibson in the free dance, they won the bronze medal after finishing fourth in two prior appearances at the Japanese Grand Prix. Fear said "we were really hungry to come out here to make progress and I feel like we did that."[25]

Programs[]

With Gibson[]

Season Short dance Free dance Exhibition
2021–2022
[26]
2019–2021
[27][28]
2018–2019
[1]
2017–2018
[29]
2016–2017
[7]
  • Blues: Save My Soul
    performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
  • Swing: Diga Diga Doo
    performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

With Payne[]

Season Short dance Free dance
2015–2016
[30]
  • Foxtrot
  • Waltz
  • Polka
2014–2015
[6]

Competitive highlights[]

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Gibson[]

International[24]
Event 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22
Olympics TBD
Worlds 22nd 24th 13th C 7th
Europeans 15th 6th 5th C
GP NHK Trophy 4th 4th 3rd
GP Skate America 5th
GP Skate Canada 3rd C 7th
CS Autumn Classic 2nd WD
CS Cup of Tyrol C
CS Finlandia 9th 3rd
CS Golden Spin WD
CS Lombardia 2nd 9th
CS Nebelhorn 4th 4th
CS Ondrej Nepela 5th
CS Warsaw Cup 4th
Bavarian Open 1st
Cup of Nice 5th 6th
Ice Challenge 2nd
Lake Placid IDI 11th
Open d'Andorra 4th 2nd 1st
Santa Claus Cup 2nd 4th
Shanghai Trophy 2nd
National[24]
British Champ. 1st 2nd 1st 1st C 1st
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled

With Payne[]

International[31]
Event 13–14 14–15
JGP Estonia 15th
JGP Germany 15th
NRW Trophy 10th J
Santa Claus Cup 11th J
National[31]
British Champ. 1st N 3rd J
Levels: N = Advanced novice; J = Junior

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Getting to know Great Britain's Fear and Gibson". Ice-Dance.com. September 20, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Corbett, Charlie (15 December 2016). "Ice dance sisters are set to take on the world". Camden New Journal. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  4. ^ Wilson, Mike (27 January 2017). "Skaters Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear head to European Championships". Daily Record (Scotland).
  5. ^ Smith, Bev (August 29, 2017). "The Waddell Brothers: an extraordinary test". Bev Smith Writes. [Fear's] parents were Canadians who had moved to Britain. Both Sasha and Lilah had dual citizenship.
  6. ^ a b "Lilah FEAR / Jacob PAYNE: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ a b "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017.
  8. ^ Falkingham, Katie (30 November 2018). "British Figure Skating Championships: Lewis Gibson & Lilah Fear on Olympic ambitions". BBC News.
  9. ^ a b Brodie, Robert (March 12, 2020). "LILAH FEAR & LEWIS GIBSON DANCING UP A STORM". International Figure Skating.
  10. ^ Slater, Paula (January 26, 2019). "Papadakis and Cizeron defend European title; pockets fifth consecutive gold". Golden Skate.
  11. ^ Slater, Paula (October 26, 2019). "Hubbell and Donohue dance to lead at 2019 Skate Canada". Golden Skate.
  12. ^ Slater, Paula (October 27, 2019). "Canada's Gilles and Poirier snag Skate Canada title". Golden Skate.
  13. ^ Slater, Paula (November 22, 2019). "Papadakis and Cizeron grab lead in Sapporo with record score". Golden Skate.
  14. ^ Slater, Paula (November 23, 2019). "Papadakis and Cizeron take NHK Trophy gold with record scores". Golden Skate.
  15. ^ Bradley, Jane (December 1, 2019). "Medal haul for Scottish skaters at British championships". The Scotsman.
  16. ^ Slater, Paula (January 23, 2020). "Papadakis and Cizeron take narrow lead at Europeans". Golden Skate.
  17. ^ Slater, Paula (January 25, 2020). "Sinitsina and Katsalapov edge out French for European title". Golden Skate.
  18. ^ Ewing, Lori (March 11, 2020). "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC Sports.
  19. ^ "Skate Canada International in Ottawa cancelled as COVID-19 cases rise". CBC Sports. October 14, 2020.
  20. ^ "European Figure Skating Championships 2021 – GBR team announced". British Ice Skating. 3 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Update on ISU Event Calender season 2020/21". ISU. December 10, 2020.
  22. ^ Bradley, Jane (March 27, 2021). "World Figure Skating Championships: Fear and Gibson smash expectations with seventh place finish". The Scotsman.
  23. ^ a b Slater, Paula (October 31, 2021). "Gilles and Poirier win second consecutive Skate Canada title". Golden Skate.
  24. ^ a b c "Competition Results: Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 December 2018.
  25. ^ Bradley, Jane (November 13, 2021). "Scots ice dancer Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear win bronze at Grand Prix in Japan". The Scotsman.
  26. ^ "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 17 September 2019.
  28. ^ "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021.
  29. ^ "Lilah FEAR / Lewis GIBSON: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018.
  30. ^ "Lilah FEAR / Jacob PAYNE: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016.
  31. ^ a b "Competition Results: Lilah FEAR / Jacob PAYNE". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""