Next week will see Sheffield host the ISU Figure Skating European
Championships for the first time in over a decade with Europe’s best skaters competing at the Utilita Arena between 13th – 18th January. Amongst the skaters competing across the six days of men’s, women’s, pairs and ice dance action is Sheffield-born Luke Digby, who will feature alongside Anastasia Vaipan-Law for Great Britain in the Pairs events on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th.

On competing in his hometown of Sheffield, Digby said: “2012 was the last time Sheffield hosted the European Championships, and back then I would have been about 11 at the time, and I participated as a flower boy. After a person has skated normally, fans throw on plastic flowers or teddies, and part of my job was to go on and collect them so I guess it’s kind of a full circle moment.”

“Being there in 2012 just as a young skater, not really thinking I would ever get to this stage but also always hoping and dreaming that I would, and to have that come back to Sheffield, not only a home country but also as a home city, is really such a full circle moment. To be on the other side is a special moment for me.”

Digby and Vaipan-Law made history last year as they finished 5th at the 2025 European Figure Skating Championships, securing Britain’s best placement at a European competition in more than three decades. The pair have also won five consecutive British senior pairs titles and backed up their domestic success at the 2025 Skate Canada International, in which a personal-best free program score placed them fourth in the segment.


On their recent history-making successes, Digby said, “Like all athletes, as soon as you achieve something, it’s never being happy with what you’ve achieved; it’s always how much further can we go and how much better can we get? So just realising that we are climbing and we have climbed over the last few years to get towards the top of Europe, it’s just continued to give us that extra determination just to work as hard as we can to continue that progression.”


“We’ve been successful at the British Championships over the last five years, so stepping onto the European stage is a big step up, and then again for the Olympics, it is the pinnacle in our sport; it’s as big as it gets, really, so the competition is tough, but based off our results this season and the previous season, we know we can climb and compete towards the top of the event at Europeans, and we can look at trying to climb as high as we can at the Olympics.”

Digby and Vaipan-Law have already been confirmed as TeamGB’s Pairs Skaters for next month’s Winter Olympic Games, where they will compete in both the pairs and team events. The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games, which will see both skaters make their Olympic debut, will see Great Britain featured in Pairs Skating for the first time since David King and Stacey Kemp competed at Sochi 2014.

On being selected for his first Olympic games, Digby said, “We got the official announcement in December through TeamGB and it couldn’t be more than a dream come true; it’s something that I’ve worked towards since I started skating. For my younger self from the ages of 9 and 10, the Olympics was always the dream; it was always the ultimate goal.”

“I think it’s been tough in the pairs category to regain that spot, and we’ve managed to do that, and now part of our journey is also just trying to inspire that pathway behind us so that we can continue these qualifications for Great Britain in the pairs event.”

All of Team GB’s Figure Skating Squad for Milano Cortina will compete across the six days of the ISU Figure Skating European Championships, with Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson and Phebe Bekker & James Hernandez competing on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th in the Ice Dance competition. Nina Povey will join 2026 Olympic selectee Kristen Spours in the Women’s competition on Wednesday 14th and Friday 16th before Edward Appleby competes in the Men’s competition on Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th. Sunday 18th January’s Exhibition of Champions Gala will bring the European Championships to a close, with the next major event being the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.