PB for Sheffield figure skater Luke Digby in European Youth Olympic Festival

Team GB youth figure skater Luke Digby, who trains at iceSheffield, scored his PB in the boys’ singles event and finished eighth overall in the competition, which saw him compete against the best in his sport from across Europe.

Luke also achieved the sixth highest technical score for the whole event. Luke has trained at iceSheffield for 10 years, progressingthrough the venue’s Skate UK Learn to Skate lesson programme under the tutelage of Dawn Peckett.

Luke said: “Competing at the Youth Olympics Festival was an amazing experience. It was great to skate in front of almost a full house of over 1,000 people, including a lot of my teammates, and that really helped me deliver the best short programme I’ve ever done.

“To compete with some of the best young skaters from across Europe and achieve a PB has increased my confidence massively. It was great to get out there and show what I can do.”

Dawn Peckett, Luke’s coach for nine years, said: “We are so proud of Luke and it was fantastic to see him compete at such a high-level. To qualify for Team GB is outstanding and he has already achieved so much at such a young age.

“Luke is an extremely hardworking student and I’ve seen him develop on the Skate UK programme to now representing the country. He is an excellent role model to all our athletes, especially to our younger athletes on the programme who start from as early as four years old.”

A national Centre of Excellence for figure and dance and ice hockey, iceSheffield is one of the best ice sports facilities in the UK catering for both recreational and elite skaters. Itis one of only two dual pad, Olympic ice rinks in the UK.

iceSheffield has delivered almost 300,000 Skate UK Learn to Skate lessons since opening in the city 10 years ago.

* For more information about the Learn to Skate programme, visit www.icesheffield.com<http://www.icesheffield.com> or www.iceskating.org.uk<http://www.iceskating.org.uk>.