The search is on for Britain’s next Torvill and Dean, with Scottish children as young as eight being invited to a special training camp to find the ice skating stars of the future.
Almost 20 years have passed since the UK last mustered an Olympic medal on the ice, with the most recent hopefuls, Scottish pair John and Sinead Kerr, retiring through injury in 2011.
Now coaches are turning their attention to the next generation. An intensive five-day development camp for youngsters will be held at the Peak, in the Stirling Sports Village, in July.
Logan Gray, Active Stirling’s ice development officer, said: “It’s a much-awaited date in the diary for figure skaters as our state-of-the-art facilities provide them with a very real training environment.
“As well as expert advice and tuition, they also get to hear from a real-life elite skater as they share their experiences.”
The PROcamp course in Stirling costs £200 and runs from July 8 to 12.
Participants will learn motivational skills and will take part in ballet, dance and trampolining as a way to help increase their flexibility, artistic impression and gymnastic technique.
Britain’s last ice dancing Olympic medal came in 1994, when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, pictured, took bronze following a controversial routine in Lillehammer that penalised a spectacular lift and robbed them of gold or silver.
It was hoped that Scottish brother and sister John and Sinead Kerr, from Livingston, West Lothian, would end Britain’s Olympic medal drought in the sport, having twice collected bronze in the European championships.
However, injury forced their early retirement from competitive skating.