By Hiro Yoshida

From a partnership formed in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, Great Britain’s Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby have begun to finally reap the rewards this season  and now have their sights firmly set on a bright future.

Before they teamed up, Vaipan-Law and Digby were singles skaters competing internationally on the junior circuit. Injury woes for both brought them to a crossroads in their skating careers at around the same time.

“The last competition I did would have been Nationals at the end of 2018,” Digby recalled. “A few days after Nationals I had an operation. I did recovery, and then I was back on the ice in May, and I was just starting to jump again, only doubles. I did a double loop, and then the same thing happened. I just got injured on the take-off, which was worse, because I’d not fully recovered. Then I had another operation, and that took us to August 2019. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to reach where I wanted to reach in singles. I one hundred percent knew I wasn’t going to go back to singles, and then I did really consider pairs.”

“I feel like I’m similar,” Vaipan-Law said. “I stopped competing after that Nationals. It was the same reason. I got injured and then decided to have surgery in January 2019 and then I didn’t want to go back.. I wanted to go to the Olympics in singles, but I just couldn’t do it with my knees. But at the same time, I was very intrigued by pair skating, so I was actually very interested in doing it in general. It wouldn’t have surprised me even if I didn’t have the knee surgery I think I could have potentially still thought about it. But obviously the world has its way of introducing things at the right time, and then that’s how it kind of developed.”

With their skating journeys on a matching trajectory and keen to explore new avenues in the sport, the stars aligned to bring them together

“In December 2018, I spoke with my coach (Simon Briggs), and he spoke to Luke,” Vaipan-Law recalled.

Although Digby was still recovering from injury, a try out was set up for 30 December 2019. While it was not as comprehensive as they would have liked, they felt they gelled well enough to pursue the idea of competing as a pair a little further. Unbeknownst to them at the time, a global pandemic was about to put a bump into their plans.

“Before we started the try out, I was in a situation where I’ll see if an opportunity comes up,” Digby said. “If not, then I might also just probably not skate. For me if I was going to move to pairs, it had to be the right partner, the right setup, where we could give it one hundred percent and we would be able to progress. It was never something that I would just do for the sake of carrying on skating. It was either one hundred percent go for it, I move, I do everything, or I just say it wasn’t meant to be and finish.”

“When we say ‘try out’ we did four pushes because he was still injured,” Vaipan-Law said. “I don’t even think we can count it. I genuinely still say to this day we didn’t really start our journey until about June 2020.”

“From January 2020, we skated a couple of times, and then Ana came down to Sheffield at the start of March 2020,” Digby said. “I think we did one day in Sheffield and then that’s when everything was going crazy. Everything was closing.”

When lockdown restrictions eased in the United Kingdom, Digby started training with Vaipan-Law in Dundee, Scotland with Briggs and his wife Debi Briggs.

“I moved up to Dundee towards the end of the summer in 2020,” Digby said. “I probably didn’t think it would have developed this quickly, but I knew it would work. I knew that when we started skating together that we would it would work out.”

“We’re lucky to have good funding and backing from Ice Dundee,” Vaipan-Law said.

“We’re really grateful to Si and Debi,” Digby said. “We have a great set up in Dundee, which allows us a great base and great coaching, and not at an extreme cost. We’re probably one of the lucky ones, which makes all the difference, and that’s why we’re grateful for Simon and Debi prioritising the performance side of things to make it possible. We both have still got living costs on top of whatever costs, but because we’ve been moving up, it has got a little bit easier. It’s still tough. We both still coach, and I work another job.”

“Other countries are at more of an advantage in that situation where they don’t need to maybe work as much,” Vaipan-Law said. “There are some countries that have that benefit, and there’s always something that could put us in an even better position. But that’s just not the case for us, and we’ve learned to adapt to that.”

“We’re in the best situation possible we could probably get,” Digby said.

Vaipan-Law and Digby were totally new to pairs skating and it took them some time and bravery to develop the particular skills required when they initially teamed up.

“The scariest thing for me to learn was the twist,” Vaipan-Law said. “It’s one of those things where it is the most abnormal feeling in the world when you’re learning it. Even now when I’m comfortable doing it, you have to be in such a good frame of mind to do the element, because you’ve got to use every inch of your body for this element. And it’s not just physically, but mentally as well. It’s a very hard element.”

“For sure, it takes so much from both the man and the woman,” Digby agreed.

“And time to learn each other’s timings,” Vaipan-Law added.

“For me the lifts, everything at the start, until you get I’d say probably at least eight, nine, ten months in,” Digby said. “It really was tough at the start, just to try and get that comfortable feeling. Death spirals as well. I struggled with the pivot. Everything was a struggle, to be honest.”

“I just remember us trying to do that back outside for months and months,” Vaipan-Law said.

“At the time we did work really hard,” Digby continued. “It was just repetition. Repetition. Even though it wasn’t working, we just kept going every day, and over a longer period of time we felt the progress, so that gave us more motivation. We did a lot of off-ice, just trying everything. We’d look at different variations, different lifts, and eventually we got comfortable with what we wanted to do.

“A few bad falls here and there, which, unfortunately, is part of the process, especially when you’re learning new things.”

“When you’re learning, especially, you’re trying to focus on everything all at once, so it’s bound to happen,” Vaipan-Law said. “When you’re in that progress stage, you’ve got to have real grit.”

“It was hard, because we knew we had to start in Senior,” Digby said. “We had a lot of elements to learn. Being honest, I probably wouldn’t say it was too exciting at the start. It was more stressful and frustrating until you got that feeling of confidence in the element. For example, on the death spiral, once I felt I was able to get a pivot and at least hold the death spiral then it became a bit more enjoyable in terms of working to make that better with more rotation. The enjoyment probably came once the confidence started.”

The pair made their international debut in October 2021. Less than two months later, Vaipan-Law and Digby pipped longtime British number ones Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji to the British National title. Vaipan-Law and Digby were not initially selected for the following month’s 2022 European Championships due to the selection criteria in place at that time. It was not unexpected.

“They had higher scores and we knew before Nationals that they would more than likely be selected for Europeans and Worlds,” Digby said. “We were just really happy with the progress we’d made during the first part of that season. We did want to win Nationals that year. We were happy with that. We didn’t expect to get Europeans so we were just focusing more on progression at that time.”

Mere days before those Europeans were about to begin in Tallinn, Estonia, Jones tested positive for Covid-19 and Vaipan-Law and Digby got called up to compete at short notice.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting it,” Vaipan-Law said. “I was just sitting on my bed quite comfortable and really excited to watch the European Championships.”

“I remember I was at work and my phone kept going,” Digby said. “It was a call from Si, and it was more than one call. It tweaked in my head that this definitely meant something. We left the next day and competed two days later.”

They finished in 18^th place in the short programme at that maiden Europeans and finished their first season there. During the off season, they worked on increasing their technical difficulty. They picked up a second British title in December 2022 and were selected for both 2023 European and World Championships.

“We started including the triple twist the following season even though the catch wasn’t great and it wasn’t the best quality,” Digby said.

“We just persevered through, and we knew we were going to get the minuses the whole season,” Vaipan-Law said.

“The base value was still worth it,” Digby said. “And we knew we had to include it if we wanted to progress through the sport.”

They cracked the top ten at 2023 Europeans in Espoo, Finland and at their first Worlds in Saitama, Japan they qualified for the free skating and ended up sixteenth overall. They put their advancement down to the inclusion of the triple twist and ensuring all their other elements were clean.

“It was our first Worlds, and we wanted to qualify for the free programme,” Vaipan-Law said. “We already had it as a given that we were going to get minuses on the twist, so we had to make sure that everything else was perfect and that’s what we did. Then we qualified, and we were over the moon.”

This season has seen them reach new heights. They claimed a fourth consecutive British title in December 2024 and at this year’s Europeans in Estonia they came fourth in the short and skated in the final free skating group. They ended up fifth overall for the best finish by a British pair since 1989. It was a momentous occasion for Vaipan-Law and Digby, but they tried not to get overawed by vying with the best European pairs.

“We’re very happy and proud,” Digby said. “Over the last few years, we’ve obviously been working our way up, but sometimes you don’t think you’ll get to that top group.”

“I think you know within yourself that you’re in a superior group,” Vaipan-Law said. “You know within yourself you’re excited, and you do know the ins and outs of what’s going on. But I think at the same time I felt in my mind those two halves. One side was ‘Oh my goodness, last group, big moment.’ And then the other half of me was business as usual.”

“It still felt quite comfortable,” Digby said. “It didn’t really feel too different.”

“We’ve been on warmups and practices with all of those pairs before, and it didn’t feel like it was new,” Vaipan-Law said.

“I suppose it would be different from the audience watching, but for us mentally it’s still the same,” Digby said.

“It takes time to build yourself up as well,” Vaipan-Law said. “For every pair in that top group, there was a moment in time they had what we’re having right now. They’ve all had their breakthrough year where they start to enter that top phase. For us, I feel like this could just be our phase now, where we slowly start to actually enter that top area with everyone.”

“To consistently move up, I think that’s the key thing,” Digby said. “It’s just that consistency.”

The British pair will have a home Europeans to look forward to next season when the championships go to Sheffield where Digby is originally from. They hope that their performance in Tallinn this year will make the sport more prominent in the United Kingdom ahead of next year .

“Hopefully it just boosts the profile of British ice skating and everyone competing at these events that will help make next year a great event,” Digby said. “Now that we’ve started to move up placement wise, we do get a little bit more media attention, which we enjoy. We like to share our story, our journey, and we always love speaking to media.”

Well before that there is the small matter of Worlds later this month and qualification for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. While recognising the importance of the event, Vaipan-Law and Digby are planning to try their best to treat it like any other competition.

“I think from the start this season, it has obviously been the end goal for the season, and everything before it has been focusing on consistency and trying to improve levels, components, everything on the ice,” Digby said. “I think we’ve done a great job up to now and we’ll continue that same mentality. We’ll look at areas where we can improve. We’ll still be training just as hard. If we look at ourselves personally and we skate to our potential, then we know everything is more than likely going to look after itself.”

“In terms of goals, it’s one of those things where we don’t really want to set too much of an expectation,” Vaipan-Law said. “But everyone is going out there for the same exact goal. We just want to qualify a spot and that’s what everyone’s ultimate goal is.”

Advancing to the free in Boston will be the first step. They do not foresee trying anything different from what they have been doing all season.

“I think we’ll keep it the same,” Digby said. “I suppose that’s been our strategy, and that strategy has worked so far this season. It’s one of those things where you can’t win on the short, but you can certainly lose on the short. The strategy has always been about putting down a good programme that will allow us to continue into the second part of the competition.”

“It’s just the way that we’ve kind of worked our way into this season, and the way that we’ve developed through the season,” Vaipan-Law concurred. “It’s just worked out best for us at this present point. It’s not that we’re not able to do the harder elements.”

“The responsibility for what elements we do lies with Simon,” Digby said. “He is the one that sets the strategy and makes the decisions, and we trust in him like he trusts in us, and it’s worked so far. We’ll continue to trust his decisions.”

“I guess next year we’ll just probably see what’s what, but we’re not in a stress to feel like we need to up our difficulty for this qualifying event,” Vaipan-Law said.

Sixteen of the nineteen spots for Milano-Cortina will be decided in Boston. Vaipan-Law and Digby aspire to be one of the pairs that book their place at the 2026 Olympics at the end of this month, but they acknowledge that there is only so much within their own hands.

“I think an Olympic qualifying Worlds is even more unpredictable because there’s so much pressure and stress between everyone,” Digby said. “You have a rough idea of what might happen, but at the end of the day, you just don’t know. That’s why it’s just about focusing on yourself and whatever happens around you will happen.”

“We’re feeling positive about ourselves,” Vaipan-Law said. “That’s all we can do.”

“It’s Olympic qualifying, so there is a lot of noise and expectation around it,” Digby said. “I’m trying to focus on it as just a World Championships in isolation. It’s so hard to know what result will happen. To make it less stressful, it’s just about focusing on a small proportion of everything.”

“Naturally, we all know what it’s about,” Vaipan-Law said. “You’re not going to forget that. That’s going to be in your subconscious.”

“As soon as we step on the ice and we go to our starting position, we’ll just look at it like another run through like we do in practice,” Digby said.

“It’s all in here,” Vaipan-Law said tapping at her head.

The dream is to represent their country at the Olympics next year, but they are not allowing themselves to get ahead of what they need to accomplish first to get there.

“It’s so easy to get carried away with that, but in my mind, I don’t even really think about that experience because it’s not mine yet,” Digby said. “I’ve not earned it.”

“I believe that in order for us to be able to achieve what we want to achieve, we’ve just got to make sure we keep doing what we’re doing and not change anything,” Vaipan-Law said.

“It’s to continue doing what led us up to this point, that continuous hard work and always wanting to be better each day in practices,” Digby said. “That is what’s driving us forward.”