American-born Chrissy Chitwood, aged 19, and Mark Hanretty, 24, of Glasgow, who both now train and teach at iceSheffield in Attercliffe, skated into second place behind number one British couple Sinead and John Kerr – who already have a spot in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Chrissy said: "We're really thrilled to have got second in our first event of the season.

"There's space for one more couple to represent Great Britain in 2010 and we're determined for it to be us.

"We need to make sure we get a good score at the British Championships in November in Sheffield, which is when you qualify for the Olympics, but we're off to a good start."

Both Chrissy and Mark have lived in Sheffield for five years and said the home crowd spurred them on.

Chrissy said: "Because we teach in Sheffield all the kids came down to cheer us on which definitely helped."

In a four-day national 'ice dance' competition, couples danced an original piece, a compulsory dance and a free dance. Mark and Chrissy chose a Scottish theme for their music and costume for the original piece, and danced to Police song Roxanne for their free dance.

Chrissy said: "This has been a great opportunity to run through some of our competition routines in front of a home crowd.

"It's been a good year so far having finished 18th in the European Championships in Finland in January and we will be looking to build on that.

"Mark and I were both inspired to take up ice dancing having watched film of Torvill and Dean win gold in Sarajevo and we now hope we can pursue our own Olympic dreams."

Gaining a place in team GB also depends on Chrissy gaining British citizenship.

"She married her long-term English boyfriend earlier this month and is hopeful her new passport will arrive in time for qualifying."

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