Some of the UK’s best ice skaters have been training in Dundee with a coach for Olympic athletes.
German coach Alexander König, who trained Olympic gold medal winning champions Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, led a two-day camp at Dundee Ice Arena on Monday and Tuesday.
Nine couples from across the UK took part in the camp for pair skating – a discipline akin to that seen on ITV’s Dancing On Ice but with more overhead lifts, throws and flips.
Among the pairs participating were two time British champions Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby, who both live and train in Dundee.
Also taking part were British junior champions Lucy Hay and Kyle McLeod, both also from Dundee, along with many up and coming skaters from further afield.
Anastasia, 23, said: “We were doing a mix of basics, techniques, spins, jumps and lifts on the ice as well as off-ice training including dancing and choreography.
“We skate so fast, it was nice to go back to basics and learn the foundations of lifts and turns. We learned a lot we can adapt into our sessions.
“It was good for the younger ones to see the older ones and get some inspiration but we learned from them as well, seeing what they are doing from the bottom.”
Anastasia and Luke are currently working towards the 2025 Olympic qualifiers with the hope of competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Luke, 22, said: “That’s our main goal but everything we’re doing week by week, day in and day out, is helping us improve and getting us that bit closer.
“It was great to learn different techniques from the coaches and more exercises for the elements.
“We were focusing on the foundations and working on a concept to make the element smoother and better quality.
“And it was nice to share the ice with other skaters – there’s not many pair skaters so it was great to get to meet some of them.”
The camp is the first of its kind, in partnership between sportscotland, British Ice Skating and Ice Dundee.
With 12 more camps planned across the year, it is hoped the partnership will cement Dundee’s reputation for ice skating.
Simon Briggs, a coach at Ice Dundee, says the aim is to develop the Dundee Ice Arena into a performance centre with industry-leading training.
He said: “We started with our pair skating camp because we really want to encourage people into that discipline.
“It’s probably one of the lowest attended discipline so it is the biggest opportunity to reach champion level and Olympic level.”
He added that many of the coaches who attended the camp with participants from across England also benefited from watching Alexander König’s expert teaching, which helped Aliona and Bruno achieve their Olympic win.
Simon said: “It was a great opportunity not just for our athletes but also for a number of coaches in the UK to learn how to teach the discipline using the best and safest techniques.”
The camps have been made possible thanks to £30,000 of funding previously provided to Ice Dundee by sportscotland to create a hub for the development of performance coaches and skaters.
Kevin McHugh is high performance manager at sportscotland institute of sport.
He said: “We are working in partnership with British Ice Skating to support talented athletes and coaches based in Scotland by creating a figure skating performance centre in Dundee.
“The aim is to ensure that both the skaters and coaches have the support services and ice time they need here in Scotland to enable them to progress in the sport and compete on the world stage.
“As part of that partnership British Ice Skating hosts UK training camps in Dundee for development skaters, combined with sportscotland institute of sport support.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Dundee-based skaters to develop their skills as part of the UK-wide system and we believe it will help to grow the sport here in Scotland.”
Conversation