Lilah Fear

Lilah Fear (born 11 June 1999) is an English-Canadian ice dancer.

Representing Great Britain with her skating partner, Lewis Gibson, she is a two-time European silver medalist (2023–24), a six-time Grand Prix medalist (including gold at the 2023 NHK Trophy), a four-time Challenger series gold medalist, the 2018 Bavarian Open champion, and a six-time British national champion (2017, 2019–2020, 2022–2024).

Fear was born on 11 June 1999 in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States, to Canadian parents.

She was raised in London, England, and attended South Hampstead High School.

Fear is a dual British-Canadian citizen.

She has a younger sister, Sasha, who competed in ice dance for Great Britain with her former partner George Waddell.

She also has an older sister, Georgia, who was a nationally ranked cross country and track athlete at Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia and now works at Goldman Sachs.

Fear began learning to skate in 2004.

In the 2013–14 season, she and Jacob Payne won the novice ice dancing title at the British Championships.

In 2014–15, Fear/Payne received two Junior Grand Prix assignments and placed fifteenth at both.

In November 2014, they were awarded the junior bronze medal at the British Championships.

They were coached by Phillip Poole in Slough, England.

Fear began a partnership with Lewis Gibson, coached by Karen Quinn at the Alexandra Palace Ice Rink in London, England, and by Romain Haguenauer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

They were pleased with the result, Gibson commenting that they "came in with the goal of a top-ten finish after we came 15th two years ago. Now we’ve managed to get two spots for Great Britain next year, which is really exciting."

The duo made their international debut in late July 2016 at the Lake Placid Ice Dance International, finishing eleventh.

Ranked second in both segments, they received the silver medal at a Challenger Series event, the Lombardia Trophy in September.

They placed fifth at the International Cup of Nice and fourth at the Open d'Andorra.

In December, they won the British national title, in the absence of longtime champions Coomes/Buckland, and silver at the Santa Claus Cup in Hungary.

In January 2017, Fear/Gibson qualified to the final segment at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic; they ranked nineteenth in the short dance, fourteenth in the free dance, and fifteenth overall.

They made their World Championship debut later that season, placing twenty-second.

Beginning their second season together, Fear/Gibson placed sixth at the International Cup of Nice and won silver medals at the Open d'Andorra and the Ice Challenge.

They competed in three Challenger events that season, placing ninth at both the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy and 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and fourth at the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup.

Competing at the British Championships, they won the silver medal, this time behind a returning Coomes/Buckland.

They subsequently competed again at the Santa Claus Cup, placing fourth.

In the fall of 2018, she began studying psychology and communications at McGill University in Montreal.

At the end of the season, they were again sent as Great Britain's representation to the 2018 World Championships, placing twenty-fourth.

Wanting to challenge themselves, Fear/Gibson selected for their free dance a disco medley of songs by Donna Summer and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Both professed as well to be fans of the genre.

Gibson said, "A lot of the routines of recent times have been very slow and lyrical, but we wanted to do something fun and something that would stand out to help us make a name for ourselves."

The free dance proved to be a huge success with audiences, facilitating what would be a dramatic rise up the international standings, and the team was nicknamed the "Disco Brits" by skating fans.

Fear later credited the music selection as "a lucky choice, and from there, it completely redirected us to where we see ourselves going, what we feel is our style and what makes us unique."

Fear/Gibson began their season with two Challenger assignments, placing fourth at the 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy and fifth at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.

In October 2018, the two finished fifth at the 2018 Skate America – their Grand Prix debut.

A month later, they improved their placement by finishing fourth at the 2018 NHK Trophy, achieving new personal bests in the free dance and overall score, and ranking second in the free dance.

After winning their second British national title, Fear/Gibson next competed at the 2019 European Championships, placing seventh in the rhythm dance and sixth in the free, for sixth place overall.

At the 2019 World Championships, they placed thirteenth, having made the free dance for the first time.

After the success of their disco free dance the previous season, Fear and Gibson chose a Madonna medley for their new free dance, aiming to continue the momentum of past success with audience-pleasing choices.

For the rhythm dance, required to be musical-themed, Gibson identified tracks from The Blues Brothers.

Fear remarked that they "knew that could get the crowd on its feet, hopefully, and people would be tapping their toes."

Fear/Gibson began the season on the Challenger series, winning the silver medal at the 2019 CS Autumn Classic International after placing fifth in the rhythm dance and second in the free dance.