BEING dubbed the new ‘Torvill and Dean’ has been far from helpful for a succession of British ice dancers but the latest to get the dreaded mention may just be the real deal.

Scot Lewis Gibson and partner Lilah Fear scored a top ten on their Winter Olympic debut in Beijing, competing 34 years to the day since 26 million Brits tuned in to watch Jayne and Chris score a string of perfect sixes with their iconic Bolero routine in Sarajevo.

And the Olympic legends could not have been more impressed.

British success has been in short supply since their heyday, with no medal since their return to the Olympic stage in 1994, when they won bronze in Lillehammer.

But the duo believe Gibson and Fear could represent the best chance to crack skating's top performers since Scottish brother and sister John and Sinead Kerr, two-time European bronze medallists and Olympians in Vancouver and Sochi.

"We know this is a very special day for British ice skating," added Fear, who finished fifth at the recent European Championships in Estonia.

"Jayne and Chris sent us a video message wishing us good luck and we had a Zoom call with them before we left where they expressed their belief in us and that made us feel so empowered before our Olympic debut.

"This whole experience was so much fun and everything we wanted, it was the feeling we'd been visualising up to this point. It's hard to not look at the scores but we are just trying to feel anchored to this moment.

"It's hard to compare competition to competition but the performance was definitely better than our last skate at the Europeans."

Gibson, from Prestwick, and Fear have been together for six years - which in ice dance terms is not long, some of their opponents spending more than a decade forming their symbiotic partnerships.

They compete again at the World Championships in Montpellier next month, where they will look to improve on their seventh place last year. They will then return to their Montreal training base, where they work with Romain Haguenauer, who guided Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to three world and two Olympic titles.

“Maturity is a big part of the sport, we've been together six years which sounds a long time but it's not in ice dancing terms. We want to keep jumping up the rankings,” said Gibson.

"I feel such confidence leaving this experience, we completed two really good performances at the Olympics. It can be daunting but knowing we can do it, just fills us with optimism.

"Knowing we've done it well is the biggest thing, we didn't shy away from the experience, we totally embraced it

"We've excited to go and train with everyone on the team at Montreal. There will be so much growth for everyone over the next four years. A new Olympic quad brings such excitement.”

Meanwhile, both skaters insist entertainment will always come first as the look to rise up the world’s top ten.

They were contacted by American glam rock band Kiss on social media after using 'I Was Made For Loving You' in a medley of tunes for their short programme.

As while rivals used a succession of mournful piano medleys for their free skate, Gibson and Fear turned up the tempo and turned on the West End style with music from The Lion King, delighting the small crowd allowed to watch due to pandemic restrictions.

"Our music choice is about us, it's about being uplifting and being us and choosing music that shows the joy we feel on the ice. We are drawn to up tempo and exciting pieces of music, we search for them," added Fear.

"It was a real pinch me moment they got in touch. We were hoping they were going to see our performance because we are such huge fans.

"They've inspired us as performers, their performance quality, talk about going all out and attacking what you are doing, that's what any athlete wants to do."

Watch All the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 live on discovery+, Eurosport and Eurosport app.