Pairs skating is often credited as the ‘crazy’ discipline of the ice dancing world and Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby are proving it right.
The British pairs skaters closed out their Olympic campaign with a score of 179.06 overall, clocking a second season’s best score of the competition with 112.99 in their free skate.
Jam-packed with daring lifts, throws and spins that the average person could not comprehend, pairs skating is an art form like no other.
But where the danger lurks, the mistakes start to seep in and a messy middle section for Vaipan-Law and Digby saw them drop down the rankings in Milan.
The Brits quickly put their errors behind them and Vaipan-Law admitted that, even with the mistakes weighing on her mind, her Olympic performance was one to remember.
“I feel really proud of myself,” said Vaipan-Law. “I will probably sit and think about the mistakes that we made because we are athletes and that is what we do.
“I didn’t have a doubt about any of our elements to be honest, any mistakes that happened today, it just is what it is. You can’t do much to get it back once it’s gone so you just have to keep going.
“As long as we come off the ice knowing that we gave 110 percent in that’s all we can really ask for and I feel like we did and that’s what I will take away from it.”
Digby relocated to Dundee in 2020 to start training alongside Vaipan-Law, with their partnership entering its early stages following their respective singles careers.
Since then, they have achieved Britain’s best pairs result at a European Championships for 35 years when they finished fifth in 2025 and have a World Championship best of 12th.
Not to mention their five consecutive national titles.
And it was all that experience that mixed together in Milan to give them the fight to keep going and not look back.
“There was obviously that middle section which was a bit tough for us but overall I’m proud that we regained our composure and kept our togetherness,” said Digby.
“We really finished strong and showed that we never give up and keep going until the last second.
“That programme could have been easy to let it get away from us but to come back and finish strongly is quite special.
“I’m going to go and see family now and reflect on both days as it has been such a quick turnaround. We just had to park yesterday so I want to enjoy looking back at the last two days.”
Sportsbeat 2026
