There isn’t even a word in the dictionary for what Britain’s Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear have been bringing to ice dance this season.
“Entertainful” is the one Gibson makes up accidentally.
But it is so much more than their trademark blend of entertainment and joyfulness that has taken them to new heights this season, it is some seriously good results.
They became the first British skaters to win a medal at the prestigious Grand Prix Final in December and were the only pair to win two Grand Prix events this season, finally beating some of the biggest rivals who have often kept them just off the podium in recent years.
The key here is that after fourth place at the last two World Championships and second place at the last two European Championships, the improvements are pointing to a real chance at the top prizes a year before the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“I have felt this season that there’s a little bit of a shift in the way that people perceive us,” Gibson, 30, told BBC Sport.
Fear, 25, added: “I think it’s just fuel to the fire. It adds that confidence that we have, it adds that hunger for more and for what’s possible for us and also just unlocks a lot more growth for us too.”
The first chance of major success comes at this week’s European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, which you can watch on the BBC.
There they will be seeking to unseat back-to-back winners Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy.
They do not need reminding that it is 31 years since a last British gold medal at the championships – nor that it was Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean who won it.
The comparisons with Torvill and Dean have been there for several years and while they say they are honoured to be “in the same sentence” as them, they also aspire to create Bolero moments of their own.
“It’s just really exciting that people in the UK feel like they’re getting excited about skating again and hopefully it’ll just build a snowball effect and that whole part will be amazing for us,” Gibson said.
Fear and Gibson, well known for their crowd-pleasing and high-octane dances, have demonstrated a more emotional side this season to start off their free dance, which features Beyonce’s Halo.
It’s such a departure from previous routines that Fear had to design her own costume for it, knowing that it would also need to work for the more familiar strutting to Crazy in Love later in the dance.
“With the Halo song, it’s very lyrical and you picture a nice chiffon flowy dress. But then when we’re doing our dance break that’s not going to work, but I can’t also wear a concert Beyonce leotard for the Halo!” she said.
“So I wanted to try to blend the two and represent that through the skirt that starts as the strap at the top and wraps around and then turns into the flowing skirt in the back.”
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