Bekker and Hernandez secure GB’s first Junior Grand Prix Ice Dance medal

Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez made history at the Junior Grand Prix (JGP) in Ostrava, winning the first-ever Ice Dance medal for Great Britain. The duo won a silver medal after performing two stunning routines in the Czech Republic.

Their Rhythm Dance was awarded 65.19, leaving them in second place going into the Free Dance.

• Watch every British skate from the Junior Grand Prix

After the event Hernandez admitted they duo had allowed themselves a short time to celebrate the achievement.

He said: “We set ourselves two hours to be really excited, then focus on tomorrow (Saturday). We were fully aware that the Free Dance is a whole different ball game and we wanted to be focussed.”

They performed their Free Dance to a modern arrangement of “The Four Seasons” scoring 94.36, enough to secure second place behind Czech Republic’s Katerina Mrazkova/Daniel Mrazek with a total of 159.55.

Photo credit: ©International Skating Union (ISU)

It is the second Junior Grand Prix medal in successive seasons for Great Britain after Ed Appleby won a Men’s Singles bronze in Courchevel last season.

The competition also saw a Junior Grand Prix debut for Lucy Hay and Kyle McLeod. The Pair came into the competition having won the Britannia Figure Cup just two weeks ago. They scored a total of 78.19 on the biggest stage of their careers so far.

The ISU Junior Grand Prix series 2022/23 continues next week with the Riga Cup in Riga, Latvia where there will be British representation in the Women’s, Men’s and Ice Dance.